791 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6d0471d7986b52aa8b2a1f521d45bbb9.mp3 aea0c5cc6cdfd79102491fe40d559287 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7517ec487cc04336dc944c776fa33f2b.pdf 7c5d73e5f5789a91031bbc80298688d6 PDF Text Text A Little Less Certainty and a Lot More Love Text: II Kings; I Corinthians 13; Luke 9:46-56 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 23, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon I added the reading from the Hebrew scriptures, because in going to that Gospel passage, I knew that the background was important, that story of Elijah and King Ahaziah, violent, causing us to shudder a bit, of course, but yet representative of that particular day. The issue was that the king did not honor Yahweh, the God of Israel, but rather was seeking counsel from one of the Canaanite deities, and of course, the violence was consuming two groups of fifty with fire. That’s the background of the story in Luke. That ninth chapter always surprises me again when I read it - the disciples following Jesus, living with Jesus, imbibing the spirit of Jesus, arguing among themselves which one of them is the greatest, and having a child placed in their midst, with Jesus’ words, “The least among you is the greatest.” And then John proudly telling Jesus that he caught some evangelist out in the suburbs who set up a tent and was conducting exorcisms, and John told him to stop, and Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell him to stop. If he’s not against us, he’s for us.” And then finally Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem, and he’s going to go through Samaria. He sends some ahead to make preparations, but the village in Samaria will not receive him because his face is set to Jerusalem, the other rival spiritual center, and so, James and John, who were rightly called the Sons of Thunder, said, “Show us. Call down fire to consume them,” and Jesus just shakes his head and looks at them and says, “You don’t know what spirit you are of.” They go on to another village. I want to say quickly that the contrast is not between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The contrast is not between Judaism and Christianity. The contrast is between two Jews, Elijah in the 9th century B.C.E., and Jesus, so about 900 years separate them. They are both Jewish and they both live out of the same covenant relationship. It’s not a contrast of religions here. It is a contrast of spirit and the different embodiment of, the different understanding of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who Israel was certain is God alone. The issue with Elijah was that there was not an honoring of God alone. With Jesus, it was an issue of love refusing violence, retaliation, vengeance. © Grand Valley State University   �Less Certainty; A Lot More Love Richard A. Rhem Page 2   It was a couple of months ago when I was setting my preaching for the fall that I came to this particular sermon idea, which I call “A Little Less Certainty and a Lot More Love.” The reason I came to it is about that time there was the frontpage headline in the Grand Rapids Press that the Christian group of churches, the ecumenical center called GRACE, was withdrawing from the interfaith Thanksgiving service. On the front-page, two prominent Christian Reformed pastors of that group were quoted as saying, “Obviously we have given off the wrong signals in our interfaith activity. It might appear that we are worshiping the same God and that’s just not true.” I was shocked, I was saddened, I was disappointed by that, I was embarrassed by that. I did not think out of the Reformed community in this area that there would be that kind of statement of an exclusivistic spirit because there’s a theological issue here, and the theological issue here is that there is only God revealed in Jesus Christ and every other God and every other tradition is the false God, is an idol. To me, the theological issue is that you cannot have many gods. If you say God, you are saying God alone. Jesus never intended that he was bringing to expression a new God. This was the God of Israel. This was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The whole early Christian movement was a Jewish movement that had no conception of some other God because they had no possibility of another God. God is God. The Apostle Paul remained a Jew all of his life and he certainly never conceived of the fact that he became the apostle of some other God. There is God. And then there are our respective religious traditions, and in those respective religious traditions, we have a groping, seeking, yearning after that God who is God alone, that infinite mystery who transcends us, who is beyond our definition, who is beyond our ability to define or domesticate. I had thought that possibly we had come to an understanding of the fact that religion is a human imaginative, creative construct. Someone has an epiphany, a vision, tells a story, gathers a community, forms a ritual, gains an identity, and there is a people formed around that identity and in that ritual and observance experiencing that transcendent God who is beyond all of our naming and all of our defining. I had really thought that maybe we had gotten to that point, but obviously, we have not. I want to be very clear - in no way is my Christian faith denigrated by the recognition that God’s grace and God’s revealing is also accessible to those other traditions. It does not take away from mine at all. I can simply recognize that I am born into, nurtured in a community that has an identity, that has a ritual and an observance, a story that becomes a medium for the experience of God, but that that is also the case for those other great traditions in which the children of God experience that touch of transcendence, that Infinite One whose presence becomes tangible in the finite, religious expressions of humankind. And so, because that exclusive spirit is so often marked by a dogmatic certainty, the title of my message is “A Little Less Certainty and a Lot More Love.” © Grand Valley State University �Less Certainty; A Lot More Love Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Near the end of his narration of the tragic history of 2000 years of the Church’s relationship to the Jewish people, James Carroll in Constantine’s Sword, which some of us have been working through this fall, suggests that truth is not the possession of any institution, any institutional grouping, but rather, that truth is the gift of the Holy Spirit to the people of God, and he concludes that fine paragraph with a statement that says, “Finally, the revelation of Jesus is not about knowing, but about loving.” He refers to I Corinthians 13, for that is precisely what Paul was saying. In a fractured congregation that was filled with all kinds of arrogant claims as to the superiority of my gift over your gift, Paul says we need all the gifts because we are a body, but let me show you a better way, and then he pens that magnificent hymn to love, and it is based on the fact that our knowledge is in part. To be human is to have only relative, partial, provisional knowledge. It is the very nature of being human. Paul says, “We see in a mirror dimly. When I was a child, I thought as a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things.” Right now, he is saying, “Human family, Corinthian congregation, we are in the childhood of our human experience. That will change some day when we see face to face. But, as for now, because our knowledge is limited, humility becomes us.” A little less certainty and a lot more love, because all knowledge will pass away and be superseded, but love is ultimate. Love can be a “mushy” kind of a word. But to love calls for tangible expression, and I would suggest that in our society today and in the Church today there is an issue that is tearing people apart, an issue that has become a scapegoat issue in society. It is the issue of sexual orientation. In the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling this past week, it has sent Right Wing forces scurrying to try to get state amendments to constitutions defining marriage as between a man and a woman, when the constitution already assumes that and takes that for granted. But, this is an end run trying to stave off the possibility that what the Massachusetts Supreme Court said is a right, a human civil right, a same-sex union, could be authenticated in society. Yesterday’s New York Times had an Op-Ed piece that spoke eloquently and powerfully about marriage and about the crisis in which marriage finds itself because of the lack of devotion and commitment, the contingent nature of marriage where, if it isn’t working out, we just forget it. David Brooks, a Conservative voice, writes, Still even in this time of crisis, every human being in the United States has the chance to move from the path of contingency to the path of marital fidelity, except homosexuals. Gays and lesbians are banned from marriage and forbidden to enter into this powerful and ennobling institution. A gay or lesbian couple may love each other as deeply as any two people, but when you meet a member of such a couple at a party or he or she then introduces you to “a partner,” a word that reeks of contingency, you would think that faced with this marriage crisis we Conservatives would do © Grand Valley State University �Less Certainty; A Lot More Love Richard A. Rhem Page 4   everything in our power to move as many people as possible from the path of contingency to the path of fidelity, but instead, many argue that gays must be banished from matrimony because gay marriage would weaken all marriage. A marriage is between a man and a woman, they say. It is a woman who domesticates men and makes marriage work. Well, if women really domesticated man, heterosexual marriage wouldn’t be in crisis. In truth, it’s moral commitment renewed every day through faithfulness that domesticates all people. The Conservative course is not to banish gay people from making such commitments. It is to expect that they make such commitments. We shouldn’t just allow gay marriage, we should insist on gay marriage. We should regard as scandalous that two people could claim to love each other and not want to sanctify their love with marriage and fidelity. In the Episcopal Church, the consecration of a gay man in a committed relationship to the office of bishop is tearing that church apart. And a very clever journalist, Garry Wills, in Newsweek a couple of weeks ago, titles his column, “The Limits of Inclusiveness,” and he maintains that in the American Episcopal Church, opening up the office of the Bishop to a gay man in a committed relationship has broken the bounds by which the Church can finally stay together. That’s just too much inclusion. And he denigrates Bishop Spong who, in explaining why the Episcopal Church, Anglican Church worldwide, is so divided on this is because, in Africa and Asia and Latin America, [there is] a very conservative element of the Church [who have not moved beyond] superstitious Christianity. For the American Episcopal Church to have an insight and a conviction about what is morally right and decent and dignified, [but] to wait for the rest of the Church to catch up would be to violate their own conscience and their own truth before God. Wills suggests that the argument that the various provinces of the Anglican Church be allowed to determine themselves is like at the time of the Civil War when there was an argument that the states should be allowed to determine whether or not they had slaves, and he wants to suggest that that kind of determination by the states would have been just too much inclusion, that rather Lincoln said there are some things that are right and we must stand there. I want to turn that argument right against Wills and say that is precisely what is going on here. In the case of slavery, Lincoln was saying slavery is contrary to the very essence of this country, to this experiment in freedom. And I want to say to him the inclusion of the Episcopal Church is not too inclusive. If it is, then let the community be shattered and broken until there be enough light from God’s word that will allow others to come along and to see that we need a lot less certainty and a lot more love. We cannot as a community simply mouth love. There are times that we must stand up for what is good and dignified and decent and moral, and before the face of God for us true, to stand up and to be counted. © Grand Valley State University �Less Certainty; A Lot More Love Richard A. Rhem Page 5   No one has ever seen God. John writes, “God is love. No one has ever seen God. But the one who dwells in love, dwells in God, and God dwells in that one.” Dear friends, I know I’m preaching to the choir, thank God. But, we need a little less certainty and a lot more love. © 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 II Kings, I Corinthians 13, Luke 9:46-56 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-0-20031123 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-11-23 Title A name given to the resource A Little Less Certainty and a Lot More Love 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 23, 2003 entitled "A Little Less Certainty and a Lot More Love", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Kings, I Corinthians 13, Luke 9:46-56. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives God is Love Inclusivism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7bb7eb5510e06561d4eabfbbd3bddff1.mp3 09c37129a98f55c6a5cc0384bc7b829c 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 Isaiah 58:12, I Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19, Luke 12:13-21 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-0-20031127 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-11-27 Title A name given to the resource Gratitude: Its Source and Its Fruit Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 27, 2003 entitled "Gratitude: Its Source and Its Fruit", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 58:12, I Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19, Luke 12:13-21. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Thanksgiving https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/57693ed96a6a2854de47cc7aa318cae0.mp3 7d130dfa615728037c40134515ef6ff5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent I Series The Vulnerability of God Scripture Text I John 4:7-8, 12, 16, 19, Luke 1:46-55 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20031130 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-11-30 Title A name given to the resource Life Broken and Poured Out Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 30, 2003 entitled "Life Broken and Poured Out", as part of the series "The Vulnerability of God", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I John 4:7-8, 12, 16, 19, Luke 1:46-55. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8a43c51cbd03ddb3cf24f743cbe341fd.mp3 4414fcab507386c804fa229d3ec84014 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b614b58597f65d86baf0f618c24661b.pdf 813bfe155be2cc3008b767f5c19c451c PDF Text Text Looking for God in All the Wrong Places From the series: The Vulnerability of God John 1:1-5, 14, 18; 14:8-14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent, December 14, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon Two weeks ago we entered the Advent season with the theme, “The Vulnerability of God,” in which I mentioned to you that it was a couple of years ago that I came to what for me was a striking realization - that there is a tension in the New Testament between the God who was revealed in the human flesh of Jesus and the God who is pictured and portrayed in the wake of resurrection and the enthronement of Jesus. That, for me, was a rather startling insight that I could not believe that I had not dealt with earlier, in handling the Advent season from year to year. The thing that caught my attention was the fact that the God mirrored in Jesus between crib and cross was quite another God than the God of power and glory who will come at the end of time, sending Christ again for the consummation of all things and that final judgment scene. The God of the second coming is God, the Sovereign, the Lord of history, the One who called all things into being and will call time when it will be no more, the God, the Ultimate Judge of heaven and earth who has committed judgment to the risen and enthroned Christ. The God of the human Jesus is a God of vulnerability. The other God is a God of power, sovereignty, control, simply what we usually think of when we think of God - omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all of those omni- words. I have come back to this topic in this Advent season because I think that it is such an important understanding, and I want to linger for a couple more weeks on that idea of the vulnerability of God which, I believe, is the essence, the true picture of Christmas. Not only Christmas, but the word become flesh at Christmas, the ministry of grace and compassion through the years of Jesus’ ministry, and the crucified one who died with forgiveness on his lips, even acknowledging a sense of forsakenness. I submit to you that there is a tension between the portrait of God in the birth, life and death of Jesus and the understanding of God that comes to expression in the New Testament after Easter. All of it was written after Easter, and the conception of God that has held sway through two thousand years of Christian history is quite remarkable, really. I hope that before you yawn and go off to sleep and get bored with the fact that I continue to bore into this particular idea, you will hear me. © Grand Valley State University   �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Let’s look once again at what John has to say in that marvelous prologue to his Gospel, and then the discussion in the 14th chapter, for there we have the clearest statement of incarnation in the scripture. “In the beginning was the word,” or as I have translated it, “In the beginning was the divine intention,” and that divine intention was the primordial light through which creation was effected. That eternal word, that eternal intention was the agent of creation. All things came into being through that agency. That light shined in the darkness of creation and the darkness never overcame it. That is the way we usually translate it here, and we use it here as a statement of confidence and hope. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it. But, the Greek word has a double meaning. It can be translated “the darkness has not overcome it,” or it can be translated, “the darkness has not comprehended it.” It is like our English word grasp. The darkness did not grasp it, in terms of putting it out, controlling it. Or, the darkness did not grasp it, in terms of didn’t get it. The more I think about the whole context, I think perhaps the latter is the idea - the light shines in the darkness and the darkness didn’t get it. That divine intention, that primordial light came to Israel, to God’s people, and they didn’t get it. Those few who got it, to them God gave power to become sons and daughters of God, not something of human generation or human will, but an act of God. And in that 14th verse - creation didn’t get it, Israel didn’t get it, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth. And the 18th verse, “No one has seen God, but God the only son has made God known, the one who dwells in intimacy with God.” In that 14th chapter where Jesus speaks of his departure and Thomas says to him, “Where are you going? We don’t know the way,” and Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. You know the father,” and Phillip scratches his head and says, “Could you just show us the father?” And Jesus says, “How long have I been with you and you still don’t get it? If you have seen me, you have seen the father.” That is incarnation. That is Christmas. That is the embodiment of God, of the eternal intention of God in the human, and I have been making that point. I have been saying that in various ways. But, I raise a question today: Is that incarnation in this only son, or is the incarnation in Jesus the exemplar of what is universally true, that is, that God is incarnate in the human? I have been saying the latter. I have been suggesting here in various ways and various times my conviction that the genius of the Christian faith and its understanding of incarnation was that the divine has become human, that the infinite has become finite, that the concretization of that infinite mystery in the human is the marvelous understanding of Christian faith. But, I think that probably I have been saying what I wanted John to say. I think probably John © Grand Valley State University �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 3   intended to say that the divine intention became human in Jesus in one, in the only one. I think maybe in wrestling with it once again, going through it all once again, I probably have been trying to make John after my own image, just another good liberal Universalist. I think John probably was an exclusivist, and I think that when people quote John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me,” and say, “You are contradicting that?” I think they are right. I say that because in reading Elaine Pagels, who has done a lot of work in those Gnostic Gospels, there were a lot of gospels written in the latter first and early second centuries, there were gospels all over the place and most of them ended up on the cutting room floor. Only four made the cut, the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But, there were a lot of other gospels. One of the most seriously considered is the Gospel of Thomas, and in her study of Thomas, as well as the general area of those Gospels of that time, Elaine Pagels suggests that John may well have been written to counter Thomas. I think she makes a pretty good case for it. These scholarly debates and discussions waffle back and forth and the best we can do is look at the data and then make up our minds on it, but Elaine Pagels has a persuasive argument as far as I understand. The Gospel of Thomas has a different religious sensibility than the Gospel of John. It is closer to Matthew, Mark and Luke than it is to John in some respects. The Gospel of Thomas has sayings of Jesus and many of the sayings of Jesus that can be found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. But, the Gospel of Thomas has a different religious sensibility. For example, let me give you just one quote from the Gospel of Thomas. In that Gospel, Jesus says, “If you bring forth what is in you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is in you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Now, that sounds like an enigmatic statement, but maybe we can get the sense of it. Thomas’ Jesus is saying there is that in you that you should bring forth, there is light in you. There is a deep primordial light in you. There is in you that which, brought forth, will bring you to wholeness or salvation. Don’t look to me to tell you the truth. Look deep inside yourself because the light dwells there, because you are all created in the image of God. And if you plumb the depths of your own being and get in touch with yourself, to use colloquial jargon, if you plumb the depths of your own being and come to that kind of awareness, when you say “Wow! Aha!” you will be saved. Salvation isn’t something that is bestowed on you from outside. Salvation is something that arises from the depths of you when you come to self-awareness and self-consciousness, when you allow the light that is in you to shine forth. And if you don’t do that, you will continue to live in darkness with distortion and alienation and estrangement and you will be destroyed. That is a different religious sensibility than you have in the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of John, the divine intention is that primordial light, that primordial light of creation, and © Grand Valley State University �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 4   then that process eventuates in the word becoming flesh. But, John said it is the word in flesh of the only son of God, the only begotten son. Elaine Pagels would argue that what was happening was that there was this diversity of understanding and interpretations of Jesus, this variety of Gospels. A few weeks ago I mentioned the old Church father, Araneus, who was fighting that kind of diversity, who was trying to stamp out all kinds of visions and revelations all over the place and to establish the orthodox view. Araneus understood that in order to calm the chaos and to bring some order, he had to establish orthodoxy, or right opinion. As a matter of fact, he was successful and we have four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and John prevailed over Thomas. Thomas was not heard of again for centuries, so we have in 325 the Nicene Creed where John’s divine word becomes human flesh, which is the only one, the one who can say, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father but by me,” an absolutist and exclusivist claim, if we take it just that way. Dear Krister Stendahl says that is love talk among the disciples. I love the way he softens John 14:6, almost gets me back into the orthodox fold. He’s a wonderful New Testament scholar. But, I have to say I think probably John was setting up Jesus as the light, as the incarnation, as the embodiment of God, and as the only one, and it is then the task of the rest of us to believe in him and through him to be reconciled to God. The Nicene Creed in 325 has Jesus the light of light, God of God, that elevated Christology where he is divine, equal with God. From Chalcedon in 451, that creed gives us those famous words, “true God, true man.” Frankly, in 2000 years of Christian tradition, we have Jesus as the son of God, as the unique son of God, as one with us in our flesh but other than us, in that Jesus is both human and divine, and rather than the Jesus of Thomas saying to us, “Don’t look to me. Look down into your own depths,” we have John saying, “Look to Jesus, for therein is salvation.” There is quite a difference, the difference between the embodiment of God in one unique manifestation in history, or the embodiment of God in the cosmic drama, in the emergence of the human. Now, what difference does it make? Well, if John is right, then those thirty years between crib and cross were really an aberration, not a true reflection of the nature of God. If Jesus is the lone embodiment of God in human flesh, then we have a kind of unique situation to which we can only appeal or believe, but we do not have the embodiment of God in the human. The God of John’s Jesus is temporarily vulnerable, but not ontologically vulnerable. The God of John appears to be vulnerable in the flesh of Jesus, but that God’s not really vulnerable. That is still the sovereign Lord of history who will bring all things to consummation in the end. That is the God to whom Jesus ascends, at whose right hand Jesus is enthroned, who will call the end to history and wrap everything up. That God is still in control. That God is still the dominant God; that is still that supernatural being who called all things to being and will wrap all things up in the end. © Grand Valley State University �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 5   It seems to me that the message of Christmas in that conception is at war with the portrait of God that I see in the birth and life and death of Jesus. Am I the only one that sees that? Probably. But, I’m going to keep hammering away until at least you understand me enough to reject my idea. What difference does it make? It makes a world of difference; it makes a total difference as to one’s understanding of God. If Jesus is the only incarnation and if that thirty years of his life was not a true reflection of the nature of God, then we have God as usual. Then we have the God of control, we have the God of power, we have Almighty God, Omnipotent God, all of that. But, if Thomas was right, then what came to expression in Jesus was the embodiment of God in all of us in the human, and then the secret of being human, if we read it off Jesus who is the embodiment of God, is to be vulnerable. John is so close - he writes so poetically and powerfully of the Eternal Word or, as I like to translate it, “the Divine Intention,” becoming human. In chapter 14, he has Jesus respond to Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” If only he had not made that incarnation, that embodiment of God in the human, a once for all, one time event. If only he had gone on to have Jesus say, “And what is true of me is true of you all.” That, I think, is who the Gospel of Thomas reports Jesus as claiming. But, John was written in a conflict situation. We know of the intramural conflict in the Jewish community at the time of John’s writing. And Elaine Pagels suggests that there was another conflict going on - the conflict between those who saw Jesus as a paradigm, a model, of humanity as Thomas has it and, over against that, John’s claim that incarnation occurred in the one “only begotten Son,” in Jesus. If John is right, then the vulnerability mirrored in Jesus is an aberration, a one time revelation, but not what is universally true, namely that in the humanity of Jesus we see the vulnerability of God, a vulnerability to be embodied in all humankind - humankind then being the embodiment of the Creative Source and Ground of the whole cosmic process. In Thomas, as opposed to John, what came to expression in Jesus is the vulnerability of God - a vulnerability to which humankind is called in that we all are the incarnation of God. That view has never prevailed. Something like this was suggested by the 18th century German biblical scholar, Ludwig Feuerbach. Lloyd Geering summarizes how Feuerbach might have stated such an interpretation: What the incarnation means is this. The divine has enfleshed itself in the human condition, not just in one man but in the human species itself, since the New Testament refers to him as the New Adam. The supposed © Grand Valley State University �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 6   throne in heaven is now empty. God (as traditionally understood) and humankind, are being reconciled. They have become one and the same. And what is the divine? What is the Word that is said to have become flesh? It is the very creativity which has been present in the world from the beginning and which continues through aeons of time. Thus the Christian doctrine of the incarnation illumines for us what is happening on the surface of our planet. Here, from this point onwards, the creativity and the responsibility, which our forebears observed within the world and which they attributed to their imaginary and other-worldly gods, is to be found chiefly within, and exercised by, humankind. Feuerbach lost his position in both Church and University. Such a view has never prevailed. Orthodoxy won in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th centuries, empowered by the Roman Emperor. The Church has been in control, has been a dominant institution. The God of the Church, the God of Christian Gospel has been the sovereign Lord of history, Almighty God. I understand why. Who wants a vulnerable God? Why do we have God at all? Why are we religious at all? Because we’re afraid, aren’t we? Oh, we live before this mystery that we don’t comprehend, but we’re also insecure and afraid. A young woman missing in North Dakota and the frozen sod and the frozen river do not yield a clue, in spite of the prayers sent to heaven. An elderly couple in a car, someone comes through a stop street, one is dead, bang just like that. We worry about our loved ones and our representatives in harm’s way in Iraq and we wonder about our health and the health of our spouses, our children’s well-being. To be human is to be vulnerable. So, we really could do without a weak God. As a Scottish theologian said one day, “A God without a hell isn’t worth a damn.” We really want God to be almighty and in control. And then, of course, because we are like the God we worship, we’re also justified in our own attempts to be dominant and in control. We would be “King of the Hill,” perpetuate our position, our power and our privilege. But, if God is a vulnerable God, then we would have to take our power and position and privilege and we would have to give it away. Then, rather than keeping our thumb on a restless, chaotic world marked by terrorism, we would have to find a way to create an alternative world. Of course, you say, “Silly man.” One could only suggest what I am suggesting this morning. It’s a radical revision. One could only take on the author of the Gospel of John if one was either a fool or almost ready to retire. But, I am really serious. Do you think, with the brutality and the chaos and the violence and the darkness that is rampant upon the face of the earth, do you really believe at some point that God will swoop in and change it all? Don’t you think until we learn another way that the darkness and the death will go on? Don’t you suspect just possibly that the secret of Christmas is the vulnerability of God which would mean that where that was embodied we have the only way, the only truth, and the only possibility of life? © Grand Valley State University �Looking for God in All the Wrong Places Richard A. Rhem Page 7   I am arguing with 2000 years of Christian tradition. I’m sure I don’t have it all right, but I’ll tell you this - I do believe this is what Christmas really means. References: Elaine Pagels. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Random House, 2003 © 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 Series The Vulnerability of God Scripture Text Isaiah 40:4,5, John 1:1-5, 14, 18, 14:8-14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Elaine Pagels. Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. Random House, 2003. 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-0-20031214 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-12-14 Title A name given to the resource Looking For God in All the Wrong Places 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 14, 2003 entitled "Looking For God in All the Wrong Places", as part of the series "The Vulnerability of God", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 40:4,5, John 1:1-5, 14, 18, 14:8-14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Gospel of Thomas Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e6923caf9c514a5b83f02c5640401bd5.mp3 a7441e0ca5332b057577ae518e056fd9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c711fd3f8fa3336d7156c42abff17272.pdf b5084b5be7335ebc53d58928da63ae53 PDF Text Text Two Births, Two Views, Two Empires: Where Does Peace Lie? From the series: The Vulnerability of God Text: Isaiah 11:1-9; Luke 2:1-58 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 21, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon I conclude this morning the series on “The Vulnerability of God,” which has been our Advent series in which I have been once again trying to bring to your consciousness and awareness the nature of God as reflected in the Christmas story, particularly in the birth and the life and the death of Jesus. As a Christian community, our claim is that Jesus is the word made flesh, that the divine intention from eternity came to temporal expression in the humanity of Jesus, and I would like to go on to say that it is in the emergence of humanity that we find the presence of that infinite Mystery coming into concrete form and being. If we believe that Jesus, in his birth, life and death, is, indeed, a mirror of the nature of God, then that God is a vulnerable God, in contrast to the God that the Church has set forth forever – and that we religious people have really wanted to have be the case – that is, the Lord God Almighty, Omnipotent, Sovereign of history, in control. That is an interesting tension, as I have been saying over these weeks. I hope that, whether or not you appreciate and enjoy the tension, you nonetheless sense that it is not something that I have imagined or made up, but rather, something that is intrinsically in our Christian faith. The God mirrored in Jesus is a vulnerable God. The God that we prefer is Almighty God, in control, able to secure us in our weakness, in our fear, and in our vulnerability. This morning, just one more attempt to make that clear, with the contrasting of “Two Births, Two Visions, and Two Empires,” raising the question, “Where Does Peace Lie?” Two births - the one birth, Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor who was ruling at the time of the birth of Jesus. The other birth - Jesus. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Where Does Peace Lie? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In a poem written in 40 BCE, the Roman poet Virgil penned lines that express the longing of an ancient people for peace. It is in the Fourth Eclogue, a rather frequently mentioned poem of this great Roman poet. One stanza says, “Now the virgin is returning, a new human race is descending from the heights of heaven, a birth of a child with whom the iron age of humanity will end and the Golden Age begin.” We just sang “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” about the circling years, the coming ‘round of the age of gold, a reference to Virgil in the Fourth Eclogue. There are those who want to claim Virgil as the prophet unconscious, a pagan witness to the coming birth of Christ. But I don’t really think that’s necessary. It is amazing, however, that there was this fine poet who was looking for the birth of a child, and for the rebirth of the ages, one who was writing 40 years, give or take a few years, ahead of the birth of Jesus, one who was writing in the wake of the assassination of Julius Caesar. We know more about Caesar from William Shakespeare than we do from ancient Roman history. I was reading some of that history again in preparation for today. It is fascinating history. There was the great Roman Republic with the Senate, and that excellent form of government that had been created. But, now in the last decades of the first century before the Common Era, there was violence, war, conspiracy, civil strife, and the names of Cassius and Brutus, for example, who assassinated Julius Caesar. Then Octavian, who was Caesar’s great-nephew and adopted son and who was now moving toward the replacement of his uncle, Julius Caesar, but not without having to fight his way to that position. His opposition was the well-known Marc Antony, known perhaps better because of Cleopatra. Someone said history would have been different, had there been a different shape to Cleopatra’s nose. I don’t know whether that’s true or not but there was continual civil war, vying for power. The poet Virgil wrote in 40 BCE of this longing for peace in a Roman setting that was riven with strife. But, by 29 BCE, Octavian Caesar, or Augustus, as he became known, came into Rome, the sole ruler. Interestingly, whether conscious of Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue, or whether simply because this was who he was, his first official act was to close the temple of Janus, the double-faced god of war. Augustus was a very astute ruler. The old republic in Rome was crumbling, and they were on the threshold of empire. They had created this sprawling expanse which could be ruled, it was assumed, only by power. And so, Augustus is trying to restructure something that would give some order and stability to society, creating a form of government, the empire, which lasted for a couple of hundred years. We talk about the Pax Romana, or the Pax Augusti, the two hundred years of Roman peace. It was relative peace; it was not perfect peace. But, there was order, security, civility and Augustus, in his ordering of that empire, yielded up the powers that he had been able to accumulate to himself and those powers were © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Where Does Peace Lie? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   given back by the Senate. It was a positive kind of situation that Caesar Augustus sought to install in that ancient world. Was he aware of Virgil’s poem, or was he simply another human individual who knew somehow or other, down deep, that there should be peace among humankind? In the year 9 BCE, he dedicated the gigantic Augustan Altar of Peace. In 1890 there was an excavation in Asia Minor in the town of Priene in which an inscription was found, “To Augustan, Son of God, Divine One,” who was announced in this inscription as Saviour and God, who brought well-being and peace, and through whom would come this whole new order, this whole new age. So, that was one birth and his vision was of peace. It was peace, however, at a price. It was not the kind of peace of which Isaiah spoke that would be the case when the one anointed with the Spirit of God came. It was not a peace in which poetically, symbolically the lion and the lamb would lie down together. It was empire, and the peace was an enforced peace. The Roman Legions, at the outskirts of that empire, protected its borders and kept its internal affairs under their thumb. So, there was a Roman peace, a peace through power that was the vision. It is interesting that it was into such a world that Jesus was born, and into a little corner of that empire. We know something of that Roman peace and the circumstance and condition of that time, because today there have been all kinds of cross-cultural studies about the times of Jesus. Because Jesus was born in that period and we have the Gospels, we get a picture of the underside, if you will, of that empire which Augustus Caesar would have ruled in peace. We know it was a time in which a province such as Judea, part of that great Roman Imperium, was a province under domination and exploitation. We know that the landowners were being forced off their land. We know that there was urbanization which created all kinds of social dis-ease among the people. Hans Küng suggests that it is no mistake that Luke in his Christmas stories, in his Gospel, sets the context the way he does. For, what is Luke trying to say? Remember those Gospels are written after Jesus is dead. Those Gospels are written in retrospect, and Luke is telling the story of Jesus, believing that Jesus was the one through whom peace and an alternative world would come. And so, how does Luke tell us the story? He tells us that Caesar Augustus was ruling in Rome and Quirinius was the ruler in Syria, but he tells us that the birth of this Jesus was announced to a Jewish maiden girl, and that the word never came to Herod’s court, the lackey of Rome, but rather, to some spiritual astrologers from the East who were on a spiritual journey. He tells us that the news of the birth was announced, not in Herod’s court, but to shepherds in the field, the nameless ones, the poor ones, and he introduces the Gospel story with the song of Zechariah, the Benedictus, and of the song of Mary, the Magnificat. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Where Does Peace Lie? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It is not accidental that the story of Jesus, the life of Jesus, is introduced in the context of an expectation and a hope and a vision for peace and well-being in the world that involved the casting down of the mighty and the lifting up of the nameless ones, not accidental that it is cast in terms of the poor being fed and the rich being turned empty away. This is the story of an underdog people who, in the birth of this one, believed that somehow or another an alternative world will be effected. It is a vision, as a consequence of a birth, of a different kind of a social order. It is a vision of peace through vulnerability. Caesar is born and his birth is celebrated and he has a vision of peace through power. Jesus is born and his life is recorded and it is a life of vulnerability, a vision of peace through powerlessness. Hans Küng says that we haven’t lost the meaning of Christmas because of excessive commercialization. We have lost the meaning of Christmas, primarily, because we have made it a romantic idol, a song, a lovely story, a cozy narrative, and who wants to be the Grinch that stole Christmas? Who wants to be old Scrooge? Well, just for five minutes or so, let me suggest that Christmas, as beautiful as it is, as lovely as it is, I wouldn’t miss it - the beauty of the surroundings, the change in human feeling, the set of the heart. The world becomes a softer place at Christmas. So, I really don’t want to put down anything that Christmas is able to do to humanize us and to soften us and to lead us into greater intimacy. Not at all. But, I do want you to see that the Gospels that we claim to believe are political documents that tell the story of Jesus in a social-economic-political context which is intentionally set over against the political-economic-social context of the time of his birth. I do want you to see that Luke never really intended us to gather in beautiful sanctuaries with poinsettias and to give each other gifts and hugs and to cry a lot. Luke wanted to say, “I’m telling you the story of one who was born into a social context that was marked by Roman imperial power that was a system of domination and exploitation, and I want to tell you about the good news, not of Caesar Augustus, who indeed had a vision of peace through power. I want to tell you about the birth of Jesus who had a vision of peace through vulnerability.” They result in two kinds of empires - the Roman Empire, mighty Rome, magnificent in so many ways, the source of so much that is wonderful in Western civilization. But, Rome that ruled by power finally crumbled, finally overextended, finally became weary of securing itself, finally became weary of defending itself, finally became vulnerable to decay from within because when © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Where Does Peace Lie? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   you have that pressure to domination, you have always to live with fear and insecurity. Over against that is the birth of Jesus, whom we claim to be a reflection of the nature of God, whose vision of peace was a vision through powerlessness, whose empire we call the realm of God. On Christmas 2003 you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that I am thinking about Rome and that ancient story in terms of my own day and age. You don’t have to be particularly perceptive to know that I am saying to you that the present superpower syndrome that has gripped this nation is a reiteration of Rome and the repudiation of Jesus. The real world is tough and brutal, and I really don’t purport to have answers as to how to find that alternative world of which Isaiah dreamed, where the lion and the lamb would dwell together and a child could play in safety. I don’t know how we could move from this. When I say superpower syndrome, I am quoting a very astute observer of the present, Robert Jay Lifton, who talks about our mind set, that drive for dominance which has its own idealism about it, but which, in our confrontation of the war on terror, has increased that war, that terror, has expedited the recruitment of terrorists, and has not, contrary to all rhetoric, made us more secure, but more afraid. I can understand Virgil, can’t you, four decades before Jesus, in a Roman world torn with strife, longing for something different? I can understand Luke thinking now that he had seen the one of whom Isaiah spoke, because whether it is the pagan Virgil or the prophet Isaiah or the evangelist Luke, or people of common sense and good heart in every day and generation, don’t we know that there is only one path to peace? It is not through power. It is not through might. It is not through domination and exploitation. It is in the creation of another kind of world marked by vulnerability which we say is like God. That is really what Christmas is about. Christmas is gutsy. Christmas is real. Christmas is demanding. Christmas is condemning. Because Christmas is about the way God envisioned the world. Some vision! If nothing else in this Christmas season, I hope you will feel the dissonance, the dissonance between the present rhetoric and the Gospel declaration. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Where Does Peace Lie? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   In your pockets, if you have a dollar bill, there is the great seal and under the pyramid it is Novus Ordo Seclorum. Do you know where that comes from? Virgil. We sang about it in “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” the Golden Age. Old Virgil four decades before Jesus talked about a Golden Age and hopes of the birth of one who would bring about a change in the world. Luke hoped for the same thing. It was Charles Thompson who created that great seal who put the date 1776 underneath the pyramid. Do you recognize that date? The birth of this nation, with all the idealism of a New Age and a new beginning. Dear God, I wish this Christmas that we in this wonderful nation of ours, so richly blessed, could recapture that kind of idealism and could learn from Rome that the mightiest power on earth that would continue to perpetuate its position and privilege and power is going to live in fear and insecurity, under stress, every day of its life. And I wish we, with our considerable power and possession, would find a way to make Christmas come true. © 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 Advent IV Series The Vulnerability of God, Advent IV Scripture Text Isaiah 11:1-9, Luke 2:1-58 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-0-20031221 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-12-21 Title A name given to the resource Two Births, Two Views, Two Empires - Where Does Peace Lie? 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 21, 2003 entitled "Two Births, Two Views, Two Empires - Where Does Peace Lie?", as part of the series "The Vulnerability of God, Advent IV", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 11:1-9, Luke 2:1-58. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Nature of God Peace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e53b3c044a3f8c62d67947c02d9af59.mp3 3ff460b7301facb0e5b86bd7d3697889 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a62a7db3a3d44a4dea3123c7c37d6ca8.pdf 2127d5f6c35e435177d2f8487f260283 PDF Text Text The Grace to Embrace the Future Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 2:25-35 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Christmastide, December 28, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon I've been looking forward to this last Lord's Day of the year, this Christmastide Sunday. I knew a couple of months ago when I was trying to decide what the preaching would be that I would want to conclude the season with the story of Simeon, an old man with whom I can identify. I identify with him not because the description fits me. He was righteous and devout. But, I can identify with him in the sense that for all of his life he had been engaged in waiting and watching and praying and yearning for the realization of that realm of God, that rule of peace and shalom. It is a beautiful story that Luke relates to us. He begins his Gospel with a preface that parades before us some of the beautiful old saints who, in their quiet way, had been praying and watching and waiting for God's big move, and Simeon is one of those beautiful examples who comes in old age, nudged by the Holy Spirit, into the temple to find there a child. He takes the child in his arms and he sees the future, and he praises God, saying, "I'm ready for my discharge. Now let your servant depart in peace." The literal language is that Simeon had been in the role of a sentinel watching for the kingdom. Now as his eyes beheld this child, the intuition of the Holy Spirit said, "The future is now in your arms in this little one," and Simeon blessed God and with great grace, embraced the future. Grace is a word that we've used here over all these many years, thinking particularly of God's disposition to all people, that disposition of favor and kindness and mercy to all. But, I use grace with just a nuance of difference this morning in terms of the style of grace. Simeon manifests the style of grace in his ability to let go and to embrace the future in the child. Simeon is an example of the kind of style of grace that I think exemplifies the best in the religious life. He was one of those watching and waiting, had served faithfully, and finally was ready as the time came for his release and, casting his eyes upon the child, could embrace a future that he could not see, but in which he trusted because he believed in the God who was coming to expression in that child. Another example of the style of grace would be the Apostle Paul who wasn't always such a gracious fellow but, in his relationship with the congregation at © Grand Valley State University   �The Grace to Embrace the Future Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Philippi, he had a special affectional relationship. Writing the letter from the prison in Rome as he was about himself to be executed anytime, knowing not just exactly what lie before him, he writes this affectional letter to them saying, "I thank God on every remembrance of you, praying for you constantly, convinced, confident that the God who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ." And on this last Sunday of the year 2003, in the midst of the Christmas season, I want to suggest to you that we are in the process of embracing the future, and it is my sense that, characteristically, we are embracing the future with the style of grace. The year before us is certainly a year of transition and that transition is a major kind of transition for any community. It reminds me of the fact that in that transition there is going to be both continuity and change. It was a few years ago, remember, when we had that beautiful New Testament scholar, Bishop Stendahl here who made such an impact in his visit, who taught me that tradition was not simply something that shaped us out of the past, but that tradition was actually an instrument for both continuity and change, continuity in the sense that tradition as a living tradition has shaped us, has given us a sense of identity, has enabled us to know who we are and what we are about. It has given us a life map; it has given us direction. But, that very tradition is also the instrument of change. If it is a living tradition, then it can never be frozen. It can never be set. It can never be absolutized. It is always in motion and those who have been shaped by a living tradition have found the grace and the freedom to continue to move, to continue to follow the whim and the wind of the spirit, mapping out uncharted ground and sailing into uncharted seas without fear, confident that the God of our past will be the God who will accompany us in the future. So, there is continuity and there is change. Ill never forget Krister Stendahl's example of the boa constrictor. He himself, having come from Sweden and having served ten years as Bishop of Stockholm, was very much in the native Swedish mode where life continues to move, but sometimes he would visit relatives in Minnesota, and there an immigrant Swedish population had tended to freeze the tradition at the point at which they had immigrated. That's a characteristic of every immigrant people (except the Dutch, I think.) But he told about going to Minnesota, and it was like going back to Sweden many years before. He used the example of the boa constrictor who slithers out of its skin and the taxidermist grabs that skin and stuffs it and puts it in a glass case and says, "There's the snake." But, as Krister says, that's not the snake. The snake has slithered off into the future. That's a museum piece. Part of the tension within the Church historically has been to find that proper balance between continuity and change. The temptation is always to freeze, to absolutize, to remain secure and safe with that which is known and that which is familiar. Perhaps you are aware of a current controversy in the country over the forthcoming film, The Passion of Jesus Christ, which has been bought and paid © Grand Valley State University �The Grace to Embrace the Future Richard A. Rhem Page 3   for by Mel Gibson. There was an article in the Grand Haven Tribune yesterday, a pretty good article for the Tribune, as a matter of fact. Actually I have a paper on this whole controversy. Some scholars have looked at this film and have despaired of the nature of this film because it has all of the old passion story as, for example, the old Oberammergau Passion stories which were instruments by which feelings were aroused and anti-Semitism arose causing, as James Carroll in his Constantine's Sword has pointed out, causing people over the years in many instances to go out of Good Friday services and to abuse and persecute Jewish people. This film, apparently, has that kind of feel about it and there have been those who have been trying to negotiate with Mel Gibson. But it turns out that Mel Gibson is a part of a traditional Catholic movement. His father is an outspoken advocate of that. This is a movement that rejects Vatican II, that very significant Council, which had been called by Pope John XXIII from 62 to 65, in which the Catholic Church said there is salvation beyond the Catholic Church and in which they specifically said the Jews collectively are not guilty of the death of Jesus. Very significant moves for that Church at that time. This traditionalist Catholic movement rejects Vatican II, rejects subsequent popes, is very suspicious of the Vatican, and they continue to say their mass in Latin; the priest continues to face the altar and all of that. That in itself is harmless enough. Let that be done and let that kind of mystery and aura flow over the people. But, when it becomes an aggressive movement that can create violence and discord, then that kind of traditionalism becomes a very bad thing. The Church is always in that tension, moving between continuity and change, and we have made that journey. We have been on that journey and I have such confidence for us in the future because we have come to know and to experience that our passage together is, indeed, a passage, and it is a journey. We know from whence we have come and we know that we are moving into a future which is uncharted but in which we are confident, because the eternal God continues with us in the future as in the past. And so, as I think about Christ Community, as I think about a story that will be written, I realize that when that story is written I will have been a transition figure. I will have been a bridge person between that wonderful congregation that invited me back in 1971 which was quite traditional, conservative, and evangelical. That congregation and that posture to this present congregation that has moved from the kind of traditional, conservative, supernaturalism moving toward a religious naturalism in which we see God coming to expression in the whole cosmic tapestry and particularly in the word made flesh, the infinite becoming finite, in the human, understanding ourselves as the voice of God and the consciousness of God and the awareness of God, the awareness of that splendid, grand drama of 13.7 billion years. We've made a radical move. It has been gradual. It has been slow. It has been cautious. It has been persistent. But, we have moved a long way as a community. But, there is continuity because in that new understanding of reality as we have come to understand it, we continue to find the clue to the mystery of the cosmos © Grand Valley State University �The Grace to Embrace the Future Richard A. Rhem Page 4   in the face of Jesus Christ. We continue to find our road map in that life of Jesus. Simeon said, holding the child, "My eyes have seen God's salvation," and we continue in continuity with that Christian understanding of Jesus as the way and the truth and the life. But, there is change, as well, because we have quite a different conception of reality. We have been trying to find a way to say God, to re-imagine faith, to translate it into ways that resonate with our common human experience in the contemporary situation, and that means that I am simply a bridge, a transition person. That also means that we haven't arrived. That means that we continue on a journey and we move into uncharted seas, but unafraid because we are confident, as Paul said, that the one who has begun a good work in our midst will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ, because Paul expected at any day the curtain of history to come down. I would say we are confident because we believe the one who is at work within us will continue to be at work within us, moving us into the ongoing, unfolding of this cosmic journey, the contour of which we can not begin yet to conceive of, but with Simeon, our confidence is in God. With Paul, our confidence is in God. This congregation, having wallowed in grace, has learned the style of grace. I hope I'll hear you repeating back to me again and again and again - What would be the style of grace at this next juncture, and this juncture, and this juncture, unafraid, confident, positive, moving with a style of grace. Growing old is wonderful and it is really a lucky person who can say that. The down side of old age has been hugely exaggerated. I find that each decade of my life has been richer and more exciting than the one before and there are such advantages. On Thanksgiving we had all the kids over and I said to Nancy, "Do you thiink they would help me get that Christmas tree at least upstairs?" Well, no more said than done. The boys put the branches up and there were the granddaughters winding the lights around and when they all left, the tree was a fait accompli. Wonderful! Never had it so good. Then they were all over for Christmas and they said, "Bumpa, Grammy, do you think we should take the tree down?" And we said, "Oh, no, we can do that." Well, Saturday the phone rang and Lynn said, "We're coming over to take the tree down." I said, "Wonderful." And within an hour the whole thing was done and Christmas was over. It was just so beautiful. I hang out on Tuesdays at Duba's with Duncan Littlefair, age 91, and Lester DeKoster, age 88, and I'm always impressed with the perspective of many years, the wisdom, the equanimity with which the ongoing crises of the world are encompassed. I've seen in Duncan Littlefair, particularly, that zest for life that doesn't abate, that passion, that passionate engagement, and he often speaks of the grand privilege of such a long perspective in the human story. Wonderful! And I want to say with old Simeon, "Dear God, I've seen the future and it's good." © Grand Valley State University �The Grace to Embrace the Future Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Do you know that in 1971 when you invited me back I was 35 years old? In February I turned 36 and began in March. Do you know that Ian Lawton is 35 years old, in February he will turn 36 and will begin in March? Do you suspect that the miracle will happen all over again? I do. I can't hold that boy in my arms and look at him, but my eyes will see the future. And we've not arrived. You will find that I've only been a person of transition, moving into a future that even I cannot conceive of, but a future into which I, with you, will move with confidence and joy. I know that transition has its wrenching dimensions, which is normal, natural and healthy. I learned personally something of that a few weeks ago with John and Brenda Fuchs. John was on the Operations Council and the Board of Trustees. He's been a dear friend; I've come to love him dearly. They moved to Florida. In the narthex before they left, I said, "John, I'm really going to miss you," and he said, "Oh, we're coming back. We're coming back." And from that moment I knew that he was putting me off. He wasn't allowing me to say, "I'm sad. I'm going to miss you here every week." And I learned something. And so, you can say, "I'm sad." You can say, "It's going to be different." You can say anything you want to. It's okay. And I won't say to you what I have been saying over and over again. "We're going to be here. We're not going anywhere." No, we have not-arrived, and with all of the continuity that will accompany us, there will be change and that is the way of life. This community will engage it with a style of grace. Say it after me - The Style of Grace. Once more - The Style of Grace. Aah, may we never betray it; may we never deny it; may we always embody it. Christmas Eve - wasn't it beautiful? It was so magical, mystical, meaningful, and I decided that what we needed was just a moment of silence with the lights down and only the candlelight as the Christ Candle was lighted. The silence was eloquent. The silence caused us to be awash with the presence of God. It was so magnificent. Yesterday, Lynn said to me, "Dad, did you stay down so long because you couldn't get up?" I said, "I was worried about getting up, but I stayed down so long because I didn't want the moment to end." It was so beautiful, so magical, so mystical, the presence of God was tangible, and it will continue to be as we find ever new ways to express it and experience it and, in it all, move into that future with the style of grace. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide Scripture Text Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 2:25-35 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20031228 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-12-28 Title A name given to the resource The Grace to Embrace the Future 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 28, 2003 entitled "The Grace to Embrace the Future", on the occasion of Christmastide, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 2:25-35. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Change Continuity Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f62ae5c875863faf62c89f283279b9b2.pdf 9e3f78bdeb8a54e6308410604d542fb3 PDF Text Text The Face of God The Celebration of the Life of Duncan E. Littlefair Ecclesiastes 3; I John 4; John 1 Richard A. Rhem Fountain Street Church Grand Rapids, Michigan February 6, 2004 Prepared text of the sermon If you knew Duncan well, you know he did not want this - this celebration of his life. I can hear him now, "What's all the fuss!" But, if he was right and his final breath closed his personal existence, then we have nothing to fear in running counter to his wishes. And if he was wrong and his spirit is dancing before these beautiful stained glass windows he so dearly loved, then he will have been sufficiently tempered such that, even so, we need not fear his wrath. For all his brilliance, wisdom and insight, he never figured out why he couldn't just slip away without notice being taken. And so, we have gathered to celebrate his life, not for his sake, but for our own, for we need some closure, some beginning toward healing for the cavern in our souls his passing has left. To know him intimately was to love him deeply, to miss him terribly, and to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift we have shared, living in his presence. It was his request that I lead a simple memorial for his family and a few friends. But, we all knew there had to be a gathering of the larger community and so we are here today. I am so highly honored to have been asked to reflect on his life in this great church - to lead the community celebration of his life; and I am grateful to the Littlefair family, the Fountain Street Board of Governors and the Pastoral Staff who so graciously invited me to be here today. I'm grateful, as well, to those at this end who enabled me from long distance to create with them this memorial service remembering our beloved Duncan Littlefair. Let me be very clear; I intend to paint no objective portrait of Duncan, nor to offer a cool analysis of this man. This will be no balanced view noting strengths and weaknesses, light and shadow. I know Duncan was not perfect - but almost and I respected him so profoundly and loved him so completely that I hope to lift up his life such that we can say "Yes, that was Duncan," and through laughter and tears find some closure, enabling us to move on with gratitude for all he meant to us. © Grand Valley State University   �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Let me also acknowledge that many of you knew him longer than I and you knew him in a variety of roles and diverse situations. I would only claim that in the last decade plus of his life, I came to know him intimately through hours of in-depth conversations. I knew him intimately and, I think, understood him as fully as it is possible for one to know another. We each came from such different places, from opposite ends of the religious spectrum. I am amazed to have traveled the whole spectrum, finally to stand where he stood and he was amazed that, coming from where I had come, I should have become the one whom he hoped would keep the heart of his vision alive. I have known the smile of his favor, his warm affection and generous affirmation and consider myself blessed, indeed. Let me tell you what I learned from him, hoping that my experience will be a catalyst for your own reflection as we celebrate his life today. He taught me to live life fully, passionately with awareness, appreciation, wonder, reverence and gratitude. There is a table down at Duba's and many of you are aware that at that corner table in Duba's Bar, Duncan was the center of the roundtable where on Tuesdays we probed the ultimate questions as well as discussed the issues that mark our present human experience. For those few of us who found a place at the table, Tuesdays dawned with a sense of anticipation which grew with each passing hour until, our places taken, Duncan lifted his glass - an Absolut vodka martini up and gave the familiar toast To the wonder, miracle, glory and joy of life! The respective glasses clinked and the serious conversation began – serious conversation, but now the radical diversity of the table became community and it was good - very good. That toast was an expression of the way Duncan lived every day. Sometimes as we gathered we were aware of some eruption of darkness, some evil perpetrated by human beings, and then he would acknowledge, Even in the darkness - nevertheless... When first I came to know him, I realized I had never known anyone who loved life so deeply and lived life so fully. He was so sensitive, so compassionate. He felt the world's pain, but never did that pain cloud the awe and wonder with which he awoke with every new dawn. A favorite poem by Grace Crowell expresses beautifully the way he experienced every day. © Grand Valley State University �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This day will bring some lovely thing, I say it over each new morn Some gay adventurous thing to hold Against my heart when it is gone. And so I rise and go to meet The day with wings upon my feet. I come upon it unaware, Some hidden beauty without name, A snatch of song a breath of pine, A poem lit with golden flame, High tangled bird notes keenly thinned Like flying color on the wind. No day has ever failed me quite. Before the grayest day is done I come upon some misty bloom Or a late line of crimson sun. Each night I pause remembering some gay adventurous lovely thing. I called from Florida the day before he died. His daughter Candy told me when the ambulance arrived at his home where he requested to be taken to die and they were taking him in, he had the most beautiful, serene smile. He was home. How he loved that refuge, that oasis. But, he was really always home. Always aware, he lived with constant amazement at grace and beauty – a rose bud on a table set, the joy of watching the colorful choir of birds on the feeders outside his kitchen window, a leaf in spring tender and green, in autumn turned brilliant red or orange or yellow, a sunset, a starry night, the lawn mantled in a blanket of newly fallen snow, a cool rainy day when by his crackling fire he could read and savor the cloudy grayness of the sky. He knew no bad days, no desolate seasons. He reveled in life. One could not be with him without being drawn by the contagion of his joy and appreciation, without finding one's own awareness raised, one's own spirit sensitized to the miracle of life, the extraordinary wonder of the ordinary that we too often fail to appreciate. How often he quoted Jesus, "If you have eyes to see and ears to hear." © Grand Valley State University �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   He embraced life passionately - all of life in its light and shadow. He was so ruthlessly honest about our human situation - he could have penned the lines of the ancient Hebrew poet – For everything there is a season... A time we are born and a time we die; a time we kill and a time we heal; a time we wage war and a time we make peace. This is our human situation and in the honest acknowledgment of the human condition, Duncan stood in awe, saw beauty, created meaning, lived graciously and pursued love. Never had I met one who lived so passionately, so fully, so richly with such wonder, reverence and gratitude. And I wondered why. I began to probe his philosophy. I began to search out his religious understanding. I asked him about his early years, his education and about the Chicago School in which he did his doctoral work. I still remember the smile on his face as he said no one ever asked him about his dissertation. He secured a photocopy of that dissertation from the University of Chicago and gave it to me. I studied it and it provided some excellent Tuesday discussions. I came to understand his naturalistic humanism. The Chicago School pioneered what has been called Modernism - a term that, coming as I did from conservative, orthodox Dutch Calvinist roots, I had been taught to fear as spawned in Hell. Actually, the Modernist movement in theology was simply the recognition on the part of many religious scholars that religious faith must be exercised in light of the exploding knowledge of all disciplines of human learning. It was the recognition that our religious dogmas and confessional statements derive from a pre-scientific age and therefore need to be re-imagined and translated into thought forms consistent with Reality as we are coming to know it through empirical investigation. Duncan was never in awe of the academic world. He never displayed his own brilliant grasp of philosophical and theological ideas. But, when I questioned him, it was exciting to see how his own philosophical/theological orientation translated into his passionate religious commitment and his powerful pulpit proclamation. For Duncan, Reality is one and in that one Reality there is in process an amazing creative venture underway. We do not look for some Supernatural Being outside the world of space and time, governing, controlling, occasionally intervening. Rather, the Creative Process in all its randomness and all its fecundity is Mystery we speak of under the symbol God. © Grand Valley State University �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Not some God "out there," not this world as a vale of tears to be traversed on the way to the Real Event in another time and another place. No. This is the Life, here and now. Duncan spoke of the Spirit. The miracle of the whole cosmic drama was that matter gave rise to Spirit, to human consciousness, to awareness. The amazing wonder is the emergence of the likes of us who have become the consciousness, the awareness, the voice of the Cosmic Process. This is how he expressed it on Easter, 1967, in his message The Risen Christ: I have come to think of all individuals as temporal, temporary, conscious intrusions or extrusions, or illustrations or realizations or expressions of the total which is God - that we are indeed God in consciousness. For we are our creators - Lords of Creation, Lords of the Earth – because we share in the knowledge and the wisdom and the capacity of God to create. We are Life. We are God. We are humans but we are expressions of God, expressions of the creative force in the world. When we die as a person, as a physical body, Love does not die. Love is that which created you and gives you whatever meaning and significance and worth you have. I read from the Gospel of John and the First Letter of John. In both passages, there appears this statement: No one has ever seen God. In the Gospel that statement comes after the Evangelist had recounted the drama of the Infinite, the Eternal Word becoming flesh, or becoming Human - God became Human. That is what Duncan was saying in the paragraph quoted above. The Human as the embodiment of God. To be sure, the writer of the Gospel did not intend to universalize that claim, for there is an exclusivism in John's Gospel that claims that the occurrence of the Word being made flesh was once for all in Jesus alone. Yet, out of that same Johannine circle comes the First Letter of John with the same statement – No one has ever seen God. © Grand Valley State University �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 6   But, prior to that statement, we have those familiar words, "God is Love," and, immediately following, the statement, "No one has ever seen God." The writer goes on to claim, If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. And a bit later he writes, God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. In the intimate connection of human bonding in love is the experience, the presence of God. The word symbol "God" carries a lot of baggage. For years, Duncan did not use the term because it could not be heard without all of those connotations of a Supernatural Being of traditional religion. But, he was never without the awareness of the Creative Mystery at the Heart of Reality that found expression in the human. In a 1976 sermon, he explained: ... life is a kind of relatedness in which the parts support the whole and each other.... "Good" is whatever contributes to the growth of such relatedness... God is that relatedness ... ... it is the nature of the universe; it is our life; it is what brought us to this place and it is what sustains us in this time ... This God I am talking about is grounded in nature; he is not separate from us ... The name (God) may be a matter of choice and convention. If you are prejudiced against it, don't use it But don't neglect the reality. (Taken from “A Reasonable and Pragmatic God," 1976) Gradually I came to understand his religious vision that gave him such zest for life. I understood that that toast - to the wonder, miracle, glory and joy of life was the center of his being. His religion was totally natural, wholly human. It was the passionate center of his being. He lived with an unceasing Godconsciousness. His awareness, sensitivity, reverence and gratitude were the result of that God-consciousness. © Grand Valley State University �The Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 7   From time to time, he would give me a tape of one of his sermons of earlier years. As I listened to one some time ago, he was upset with some of his parishioners who were critical of an anthem which he loved and which the choir had sung the previous week. He was clearly agitated at those who had no feel for the emotional dimension of religion, who lacked poetry in their soul and who were so insecure in their absence of faith in God, that they could not allow the music to wash over them and be moved by the Spirit. Duncan concluded the sermon and then said, "And now I've asked the choir to sing it again!" And they did. And what was the anthem? My God and I, we walk the fields together, We walk and talk as good friends should and do. We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter, My God and I walk through the meadow's hue. He tells me of the years that went before me, when heavenly plans were made for me to be, when all was but a dream of dim conception to come to life, earth's verdant glory see. My God and I will go for aye together, We'll talk and talk and jest as good friends do. This earth will pass and with it common trifles, But God and I will go unendingly. If you really knew him and understood him, even now you can image him in that chair in the Chancel, eyes closed, head turned upward, hands folded, spirit soaring in sheer ecstacy. Let me tell you an amazing secret - for all those years that he filled this pulpit -I say with absolute sincerity and certainty, there was not a more honest, more passionate lover of God in Grand Rapids, or Western Michigan, or, for that matter, any place on the face of the earth. No one has ever seen God but the Word has become flesh, God has become human. In that beautiful face of Duncan, I have seen the Face of God. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Friday Memorial Service Scripture Text Ecclesiastes 3: I John 4, John 1 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-0-20040206 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-06 Title A name given to the resource The Face of God: The Celebration of the Life of Duncan E. Littlefair Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 6, 2004 entitled "The Face of God: The Celebration of the Life of Duncan E. Littlefair", on the occasion of Friday Memorial Service, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3: I John 4, John 1. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Cosmic Drama Litttlefair The Human as Embodiment of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e160bc402a601ad9289ff0f71a275d5.pdf 482aa4bcc501230ca1cd0017ee582715 PDF Text Text To the Wonder, Glory, Miracle, and Joy of Life! A Littlefair Legacy, 1 Ecclesiastes 3; Philippians 4 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 8, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon It is good to be back home. Not to say that Nancy and I were sorry to miss this wonderful January winter you had, and not to say that we were unable to make do with this extended period away with nothing to do, but it is so good to be back. In all honesty, it is so good to be back because of the place to which we come. Yesterday morning the sun caught the ice floes on the lake and it was so beautiful. Ordinarily I would have called Duncan Littlefair to say, “Dunc, you should see what I see,” and he would have said, “Ahh, it’s beautiful.” I thought to myself it may be cold, but it is pretty. And then to be able to come home to my wonderful family - we’re going to gather in a little bit. It’s so wonderful to have such a great family and such a wonderful community, to come back to you. Nancy tells me that I was more relaxed this time away than ever before, and I did take as many books, but I didn’t get them all read, and I think I was relaxed because of how I feel about this community. I feel so good about the fact that we are in such positive territory, feeling so good about the excellent leadership we have, a wonderful pastoral/program team in place that keeps things going and even getting better when I’m gone, Ian and Meg Lawton on their way, feeling so positive about that. I am eagerly anticipating this time of transition and then the next stage of the journey. So, blessed, indeed, I am delighted to be back here in your midst. As you know, while I was gone, I received word of the death of my dear friend Duncan Littlefair. I think the first week or ten days of our vacation we sort of crashed and didn’t do much of anything, but then we got the call that Saturday night that Duncan had died. You know what he meant to me and so many of you have given expression to that, and I do appreciate that. The request was that I should do his memorial service. It was his request that I do that for family and a circle of friends, but we all know that the whole community had, somehow or other, to find some closure with this one who had been larger than life in our midst, and so on Friday I did lead that service at Fountain Street, and I suppose you can imagine that after getting that call and knowing that that was my assignment, my mind could not register on much else. I think I preached about a hundred funeral sermons from 3:30 to 5:00 in the morning every night, it © Grand Valley State University   �To the Wonder…Joy of Life! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   seemed. I had not submitted my preaching for my return. We had left somewhat early and I thought I would have time down there to worry about that, as often I do. But, I just couldn’t determine what to do. I was so filled with thinking about Duncan and the whole impact of his life on my life and the larger community. Finally, I said to Nancy, “I think I’m simply going to do three sermons on Sunday mornings, ‘A Littlefair Legacy,’ and then on Ash Wednesday night concluding that series,” because it’s really all I could be thinking about. Thinking about last Friday, I couldn’t possibly somehow or other turn around the furniture in my mind and come up with something new this morning. Some of you were there for that service on Friday and I have to apologize to you because you will hear some of the same things, but not entirely so, because there was a special relationship that Duncan had to this community. He loved this community very much. He loved to worship here. I would bring him a tape every Tuesday of the service and the next Tuesday I would pay for it. He could really get after me when he saw me slipping back into the slough of orthodoxy. But, he cared a great deal for this community and he saw here hope for his religious vision to be perpetuated. So, I thought, not only will it be good for me, but I hope it will be good for you as a community, as well, to reflect for these weeks on A Littlefair Legacy, to reflect on the impact of this most remarkable human being whom it was my rare pleasure to come to know intimately and to love and respect very deeply. I want to begin this morning where I began on Friday and that is simply to share with you what he taught me, and the heart of what he taught me was to live fully and richly, to enjoy life and to enter it with zest, to live with wonder and awe, with awareness and appreciation, with reverence and thanksgiving. I have to say to you honestly, it was that which impacted me and has changed my life over this past decade. You know because of my frequent references that Tuesday was “Tuesday’s at Duba’s” and you know that those were sacred times and we kept that religiously and as we gathered, we spoke often of the fact that when we would awaken on Tuesday morning, those few individuals that were so blessed to be there, we would say, “Ah! It’s Tuesday,” and with every passing hour our anticipation grew until, all of us at our places, Duncan would lift his glass and say, “To the Wonder, Glory, Miracle and Joy of Life!” The glasses would clink and it was a holy moment. It was good, it was just very good. And then that serious conversation would begin, and it was serious conversation. But, the thing that happened in the clinking of the glasses was that the radical diversity of that table became a community, and a community in all of our diversity in which we came to love one another and care for one another in a most remarkable way. As I came to know Duncan, I came to realize that that toast was the theme of his life. It was the very essence of his being. That man lived with a constant sense of wonder every day and throughout the whole day, in all of the varied circumstances and situations into which I ever saw him, he was one who lived with wonder, with awareness, with appreciation, with a sense of reverence and of © Grand Valley State University �To the Wonder…Joy of Life! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   deep gratitude. Duncan never had a bad day. He was the most unusual person I have ever met. The fact of the constancy, the consistency of that sense of living as a miracle, was contagious. You couldn’t be around him without feeling your own spirit rise and your own sensitivity heightened. And I began to see things that were always there but had never seen before. I began to live with a kind of awareness and appreciation that I’d simply never experienced before. It was because, in being with him often enough, long enough, in so many different situations, I saw him notice everything - a rosebud on a table set, the chorus of birds on his feeder outside his kitchen window which he delighted to watch, a sunset, a starry heaven, the lawn laid with newly fallen snow, a rainy day when he could pull up his rocker to his fireplace and to the crackling of the fire have a good book on his lap, enjoying and savoring the grayness of the clouds. If you would ever have called him in January to complain of a Michigan winter, he would have said, “It’s Wonderful! I love it!” Every day, he had no bad days; he had no desolate seasons. He was totally unimpacted by the external situation of his life because he lived out of an internal miracle that was always going on, of which he was always aware, and which he continued to bring to expression. One of his favorite poems, by poet Grace Crowell, has these lines: This day will bring some lovely thing, I say it over each new morn Some gay adventurous thing to hold Against my heart when it is gone. And so I rise and go to meet The day with wings upon my feet. I come upon it unaware, Some hidden beauty without name, A snatch of song, a breath of pine, A poem lit with golden flame, High tangled bird notes keenly thinned Like flying color on the wind. No day has ever failed me quite. Before the grayest day is done I come upon some misty bloom Or a late line of crimson sun. Each night I pause remembering some gay adventurous lovely thing. That is exactly how he lived more consistently than anyone I’ve ever known. As I came to know him and to experience him more and more, I found my own awareness and appreciation of life growing. He changed my life. © Grand Valley State University �To the Wonder…Joy of Life! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   In Florida I did take down Gary Dorrien’s second volume of The Making of American Theology, and I went back over some things I had read before about the Chicago School. Duncan graduated from the University of Chicago, did his doctoral work there, getting out around 1939-1940, somewhere in there. The Chicago School was a famous school of theology at the time. It was really the center of theological ferment in the country, a pioneer in the movement they called Theological Modernism, and I was re-reading again the story of that. There was a theologian-scholar there named George Burman Foster, and I identify with Foster, because Foster, coming out of a very pious and orthodox Baptist experience, moved across the whole spectrum of religious experience to a naturalist-humanist kind of understanding, and yet he wrestled through it all. As I was reading Gary Dorrien’s account, I read of Foster, who said the content of revelation is in holy personalities. When I read that, I thought, “Dear God, that’s true.” He went on to say ideas are important, but we are not saved by ideas. We are saved by persons, by personalities who embody the ideas. He said as fire kindles fire, and not some theory about the flame, so people save people. I thought, “It’s true.” And then I thought of my own life. While I was in Florida a week after Duncan died, another great friend of mine, Dr. Eugene Osterhaven, died at age 88. Dr. Osterhaven was a professor at Western Seminary for many, many years, he was a great friend of this congregation, he was a dear friend of mine, he married Nancy and me in 1972, and we have been in contact ever since. He prayed for me every day. In the opening years he prayed thanking God for me, in latter years he prayed petitioning God to save me. But, he was one of my dear, old friends who never forsook me, even though he couldn’t believe that I was really as bad as rumor had it. So, I thought of Gene Osterhaven. He was teaching an adult class here in 1960 and was the one that engineered my call here in 1960. And then he was teaching again in 1970 when you were without a pastor, and once again he was an instrument to bring me back here. So, Gene Osterhaven played a big part in my life, and I loved him. He was a beautiful, beautiful human being. He was an orthodox Reformed theologian. I learned my Reformed theology from Gene Osterhaven. I put my mind on his desk and asked him to shape it and to form it. I was totally brainwashed, at my request. That’s where I came from. Then, after about seven years of pastoral work, there began to be some cracks in the armor and I began to have more questions than I had answers, which was a relief to my people, because when I came out of seminary I had all the answers and didn’t even know what the questions were. It was my privilege then to go to the Netherlands and there I had this good fortune of another Professor, Hendrikus Berkhof, whom I have quoted here again and again, again what a beautiful human being he was. He also was a Reformed theologian, but a Reformed theologian who had brought a critical view to the faith and fresh insights and new formulations, and he led me into the place where I could do my own theological thinking. © Grand Valley State University �To the Wonder…Joy of Life! Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Maybe you remember that just a few years ago before he died, he was 80 years old and the University of Leiden celebrated him. They had a big day arranged with a panel of scholars, and I was the only foreign student to be invited back, and I got to say a few words. I didn’t talk about him in terms of his theology, I talked about him in terms of his personhood. I talked about the fact that in the crisis of my own life, Henk Berkhof was a pastor and was full of care and compassion, and I concluded my remarks with “Thank God for the man!” And the Dutch paper the next day, in telling the story of that event, used that phrase in the headline - “Thank God for the Man!” He was brought to the occasion from a nursing home where he was at that time, and I knew as I was with him, it would be the last time I was with him. I spent two hours with him and I wrung every bit of wisdom and insight I could out of him. Then I said to him, “You know, Henk, when I was studying here in the 60s, you were looking in this direction, and now as we talk, I sense that you are looking in that direction.” He said, “Say that again.” I said, “Well, you were talking much more about Karl Barth now than you are about Kuitert and I just sense that there has been some shift as you have come to the end - have you moved?” “Ah,” he said. I said, “You know, I feel so close to you it’s like if you drew a circle, we would be in the circle, but I feel like you’re looking in one direction and I’m looking in another.” He said, “Yah, and that’s the way it should be, for a student must go beyond his teacher.” Now, there’s a teacher for you. There’s grace for you. He gave me permission to go on and I did go on, and this last decade, having encountered Duncan Littlefair, it was a transformation, the next step, moving from orthodoxy to critical Reformed reflection to religion that is natural and human, for I saw in Duncan that his life was the fruit of his theological religious understanding. He was deeply rooted theologically, philosophically. He never talked about it. He didn’t preach about it. He didn’t burden his people like I have burdened you. He celebrated life with them, but when I probed because that’s who I am, I kept probing to say, “Okay, tell me. How does this blossom form?” And I realized it was because he wasn’t looking for God outside of the world, some kind of supernatural being in control, now and then intervening. He saw the mystery of the holy and the sacred as the unfolding of this cosmic drama of which we are a part. Religion for him was totally natural and wholly human, and it was the appreciation and the awareness and the wonder of this cosmic miracle into which our lives are woven and we, as that emerging consciousness of this whole drama. © Grand Valley State University �To the Wonder…Joy of Life! Richard A. Rhem Page 6   And so, little by little, I began to see that that beautiful life was the consequence of a consistent vision. Sometimes on Tuesdays all hell had broken loose somewhere in the world, evil had been perpetrated on other human beings, and we would raise our glass in the somberness of whatever event might have been, and then Dunc would say, “Even in the darkness ...” because he accepted life, not as he wanted it to be, but as it is, and even in the darkness it could not cloud the joy or remove the miracle. So, I read Ecclesiastes 3. He could have written it, all of the diversity of human experience. I owe to Don Hoekstra that translation. If you read it in your scriptures, it says there is a time to do this and a time to do that. I always winced a bit when it came to “There is a time to kill and a time to make war.” Don’s translation helps me to see that what that poet was saying is not there’s a time to do this, as though it ought to be done, but as a matter of fact, that’s what we do. This is the way life is. This is the human condition, and it is this that Duncan was able to embrace. His religious vision enabled him to transcend that darkness and to live in the constant light of the unfolding miracle. The Apostle Paul wasn’t too bad, either. He said, “Rejoice. Again, I say rejoice. And don’t worry about anything, but by everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God that passes human understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.” And then he went on to thank them for the gift they had given them, the Philippian congregation, and he said to them, “But, don’t think I need your gift.” (That reminds me of Duncan. He lived with such detachment.) “But, thanks for the gift. It was good of you. I didn’t really need it. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. I know how to be full and I know how to be empty.” Some think they get a hint of stoicism in Paul. I think Duncan was even better than Paul, because I never got the sense of stoicism, not like “I’ll grit my teeth and get through this day.” Rather, “So, this is the day. This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice in it and be very glad. So, it’s raining or snowing or hailing, so it is winter or summer or spring or fall. I will live in the wonder, the miracle, and the glory and joy of life.” Wow! That’s a life. References: Grace Crowel (1877-1969), “The Day,” 1926. Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950. Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany V Series A Littlefair Legacy Scripture Text Ecclesiastes 3, Philippians 4 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Gary Dorrien. Making of American Liberal Theology, Vol. 2: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950. Westminister John Knox Press, 2003. 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-0-20040208 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-08 Title A name given to the resource To the Wonder, Glory, Miracle and Joy of Life! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 8, 2004 entitled "To the Wonder, Glory, Miracle and Joy of Life!", as part of the series "A Littlefair Legacy", on the occasion of Epiphany V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3, Philippians 4. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Littlefair miracle of life Natural religion Wonder https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7c3ab0948502431a0f039b033c70b549.mp3 4d1d624e873ec3b3954f7951edd16977 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b17103643d78369907a994a433c5a008.pdf 0aab3867ebf25f094e4fb3f3379d550f PDF Text Text By What Authority? A Littlefair Legacy, 2 Mark 11:15-19, and a reading from Duncan E. Littlefair Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 15, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon In The Reading From the Present, there are two citations from sermons of Duncan Littlefair in the 70s. I will read only the last couple of paragraphs. In the first, he had advocated the use of the mind and the intellect and the intelligence in dealing with the problems that face us as a society, and then in the bottom couple of paragraphs, he said: We stand at the dawn of a bright new era in life, the era of individuality and freedom, a time in which each person will be his own authority. We will be our own hero. We will find our own way. We will not count on and be dependent upon established authority from outside and above. We will have the authority within ourselves. We will be God in active form expressing the eternal and the infinite through ourselves. We stand at the dawn of such an era. Amen means may it be. I would say Amen to that. As I mentioned last week, I didn’t think of much else except Duncan and his legacy, once in Florida I learned of his death and the request that I do his memorial service, and while I was trying to think about what to preach here, I finally just gave up and thought why not preach here what I really want to say to you anyway and do it in a reflection and a remembrance of the things that I learned from Duncan. So, this week and next week and then on Ash Wednesday we will be reflecting together on some of those core pillars of Duncan’s own vision and faith which have been of such great impact to me and to the broader community. The central core of it all centers around this question of authority. I’d never met anyone who lived with such a sense of inner authority as Duncan Littlefair. I have never encountered anyone who lived with such a sense of selfconfidence, a confidence, an inward strength that simply was not dented or moved in any way in any encounter that I ever had with him or any experience of © Grand Valley State University   �By What Authority? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   him in any situation. He was a very strong, self-confident person who lived out of his own center and was his own authority. There were those on occasion who would accuse him of arrogance and he didn’t even defend himself against that. I’ve heard him say, “Well, if you call that arrogance, call it arrogance.” But, it wasn’t arrogance, for if you check the dictionary, arrogance has to do with an unwarranted claim to power or authority, and that was not the case with Duncan. There was no unwarranted assertion. What he was, what he believed, his vision, his understanding would be stated straightforwardly, no fudging, no fuzziness, set out there for you to hear, to agree or disagree, to acquiesce or to confront, and he reveled in all of it. If you check the word authority, you find it is the same root as author which is to create or to cause to grow. Authority in the dictionary has a very interesting dual definition. On the one hand, I suppose most commonly, authority connotes to us that power to act and to enforce obedience. The police have authority to arrest us if we are exceeding the speeding law and so forth. That may be the most common sense in which we speak of authority. But, also in the dictionary, I read that authority can be the influence of an idea or a person that has gained esteem and respect. So, on the one hand authority is the imposition of power over another. On the other hand, authority is that which is given or ascribed to one who has earned the esteem and the respect of the other. Of course, it was the second case with Duncan. He repudiated, he would rail against any claim of power to enforce. It was detestable to him, particularly in the Church or the religious life, that there would be one who would impose his or her views or positions on another, or on a community at large, who would have that kind of power to enforce conformity to a creedal affirmation or ecclesiastical discipline. But, he could not help being seen as an authority even against his protest simply because of the remarkable person he was whose leadership was an intrinsic quality of his being and widely recognized. The authority ascribed to him was the consequence of the respect and esteem with which he was held, to say nothing of the brilliance of his mind and his thinking. It was the incarnation of that vision and idea that caused people to see him as a figure of authority, but never did he claim it. Never did he plead for it. Never did he assume it. He was his own authority. He lived in about as complete and total a freedom as anyone I have ever known, as straightforwardly, as clear-eyed as anyone I’ve ever known, and it was his intention, I would say it perhaps was the center of his own ministry, to enable others to come to that same point of self-confidence, recognizing within themselves the source of authority for the way they lived, the values they held, the vision with which they lived. The long-time friendship of Lester deKoster and Duncan began with them being debating partners. Lester, of course, was at the other end of the spectrum of Duncan in terms of this issue of authority. There is a very wonderful video of the Littlefair Years at Fountain Street, and Lester, on camera says, “I would say, as © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   espoused by Duncan, religious liberalism means that the person is his own authority. So, now I’m saying, I think, the religious liberal wants to choose among his authorities and it all ends up finally at himself.” Well, Lester, coming from his beloved crimped and cramped Calvinism, with his continuing assertion of the absolute authority of the Bible as the Word of God, was very sensitive to where the issue lies, and it does lie at that matter of authority, and this was a point of discussion many times at Duba’s table because it really doesn’t matter what topic you’re talking about, if you talk about it long enough and keep probing at it long enough, it comes down to what is your authority? On what basis do you make that claim or deny that claim? At the table we were always very much aware of the fact that one was either speaking out of an adherence and a loyalty to, in this case, an ancient text, or one was speaking out of one’s own being, thinking, feeling, as a volitional creature. So, when I saw that on camera recently reviewing again that video, I smiled at Lester putting his finger on the core issue, the matter of authority. And it is the key issue in the religious community as well as the larger community, and it has very practical implications for the way we live and what’s happening in our society. I generally begin Saturday morning reading The Grand Rapids Press religion section. I usually get energized to preach about something or other, and yesterday as I did that, thinking about this sermon, I went through and jotted down a couple of items. The lead story was of the messianic synagogue, people who are described as a small community locally with communities strung around the world. Not a large group, but the question was are they Jewish or Christian? There are people who believe that Jesus was the Messiah, but they continue in Jewish observances, which quite rightly they claim Jesus would have kept himself. As the article indicated, they are often criticized both by the Jewish community and the Christian community. The Jewish community said “You can’t really be authentically Jewish if you’re talking about a Christian Messiah, a Messiah-Savior figure,” and the Christian community saying, “Why don’t you just get with it and move on?” It looks like a wonderful community of people. It looks like they have a wonderful spiritual experiences and emotional fulfillment together, but the reason I noted it was that one of the teaching elders said, “It is pretty clear in the Bible that God intends to reestablish the nation of Israel.” It’s pretty clear in the Bible? Well, I guess maybe it is. Paul really did think that. Of course, it is clear if you just take that ancient text, take that word that says that. But, you might say Paul was also thinking Jesus was going to come back right away and he was at the end of history and the curtain of history would soon drop. Don’t you wonder, if he was wrong about that, he might have been wrong about this? There was a similar kind of a statement in the article on the Southern Baptists who have now extended the ban on women as military chaplains. They’ve been traveling at breakneck speed backwards lately, the Southern Baptists. They © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   apparently have about twenty women in chaplaincies that this will not effect, but they will not extend it anymore because they have determined that a chaplain in the military do pastoral work, marry, bury, and so on, and actually if they do that, then they are in a position of authority and that would contradict I Timothy 12 which says that no woman shall be in leadership or exercise authority over a man, which I think is really a wonderful idea. But, I don’t think it’s going to work. But, this is the point. These things have very practical implications. Take, for example, the question of the reestablishment of the nation Israel. If you are an orthodox Jew of a certain stripe, then you believe that, but you not only believe that, you believe that there are certain borders, certain parameters in the geography that have to be settled by Israel, have to be again Israel before Messiah can come. In that critical, tragic, explosive, violent situation that seems so hopeless in the Middle East today, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is over borders, and the settlement movement, the architect of which was Ariel Sharon. The present Prime Minister cannot dismantle settlements without violence of his own people because this is not for them a political question, this is a religious question. If they don’t inhabit the land, Messiah cannot come. If you absolutize an ancient text, take it out of its historical context, out of its socio-cultural setting, you get that kind of thing. And so, the settlers who are living on those outlying borders, will die rather than be moved because it’s a question of whether or not God will be able to act and to establish the nation in the ancient borders and bring in the Messianic Age. Or, the Southern Baptist issue - how do you settle the question of the place of women and the gender balance on the basis of the Bible, which comes out of a particular culture? The Southern Baptist pastor who was quoted said, “Finally, the Bible is our guide and not culture or what everybody’s thinking.” I want to say, “You know what? There was a day when the Bible came out of a culture. A culture shaped it and what it said pretty much everybody was thinking, and what you have done is frozen a piece of history and perpetuated it down through the centuries while life continues to develop. And so, finally you have an ancient text that doesn’t resonate at all with where life is down here.” It is a very tricky question and it has tremendous implications for the way we live today. You cannot, with this text, solve the burning sociological issues of our time. Look at how the nation is all upset now over this same-sex marriage thing. States rushing to constitutional amendments, people bemoaning the fact that this might challenge the sanctity of marriage. I want to say, “Why?” You can’t get it out of this book, but it is this book that stimulates people and drives them to that kind of emotional response which can very easily turn violent and, at worst, divides the body politic and creates acrimony and accusation and condemnation. I don’t often like it when Hollywood celebrities have a microphone in their face. I wish they would do us all a favor and just be silent at such a moment, but once in a while one says something pretty good and Tom Hanks said recently, “You know, © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   in any evening when two human beings stand up and look at each other and say, ‘I love you and I’ll be lovingly faithful to you forever,’ is a good evening.” If we would do as Duncan had always pleaded, if we would use our intelligence, if we would gather as much knowledge as we can, if with civility and dignity we could speak together and converse together and probe together, we could move together, we could take advantage of the light that has dawned upon us and continued to cause our corporate, community life together to be more reflective, rather than being pinched and cramped by an ancient text or an ancient institution with an hierarchy that is ruled by the priest. The implications of it are tremendous. The issue of authority is right at the core of the religious community, the religious experience, and the broader community of humanity, as well. This, of course, has always been the issue in the Church. That’s why when Jesus came and did his thing in the Temple, whatever he did, it was a prophetic act and Israel had been inured with prophetic acts throughout its history. It was marked by that. The thing that made Israel unique was the prophetic voice, because every religion has a priesthood and priests keep the machinery going and the prayers being said and the rituals intact, and they are guardians of the tradition. They keep it all going and it is a very valuable function. But, the prophet stands outside on the steps of the Church and says, “Thus saith the Lord.” Whatever happened in the Temple, Jesus was calling to a head his own challenge to that Temple establishment and there are all kinds of reasons for that which have been uncovered more and more in our day in fascinating studies of our time, social cross-cultural studies of that time. But, Jesus, in a prophetic act, confronted the established religious setup of the day and so the guardians of the traditions said, “What are you going to do about it?” The problem was, you see, Jesus had what Duncan had - when he spoke, people listened, because somehow or other, what he was saying resonated with their human experience. In another place in the Gospels it says, “He spoke as one who had authority, not as the scribes and the Pharisees.” The irony is that the scribes and the Pharisees had authority. They had the power to enforce. Jesus had that intrinsic authority that was compelling because it resonated with that which was down deep in the human soul. They came and said, “By what authority did you do this?” In other words, “You can’t just do what you want to do in this Temple because we have the authority to grant that privilege or to withhold it.” Jesus knew this was not a sincere question about “Really, Jesus, talk to us, tell us about what’s really going on with you. Who are you? What are you saying?” No, they were trying to figure out a way to fence him out and so he didn’t play their game. But, he was the example of that prophetic voice. Ah, you say, in the Hebrew scriptures, for Jesus, that was the word of God. Really? But, it certainly was filtered through the human person, and we ascribe to Isaiah and Jeremiah and Amos and Obadiah the word of God. © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I preached a sermon in Coopersville when I got out of seminary, the ordination sermon for a friend of mine and I said to him in the sermon, “Jeremiah said, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ You can never say that. You must say, ‘Thus hath the Lord said.’” Get the difference? I took away from him the immediacy of the address of the word of God. I was saying God has spoken and all you can do is say what God said. I was wrong. I was wrong even according to my own tradition. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I was wrong even according to good Calvinism. At the table, Lester would have said to me, “It’s the Word of God incarnate, it’s the Word of God written, it’s the Word of God preached and they’re all the Word of God.” That’s presumptuous. I can’t say my sermon is the Word of God. Duncan said, “Yes you can! Yes, you must!” Oh, really? “It is the Word of God according to you!” That makes a difference. If I preach here and I assume that what I preach is simply my own stuff and not a word of God, I will preach a bloodless, lifeless, passionless, convictionless message that will move you not at all, and that’s what Duncan would detest. “You have to preach with a conviction; it is the Word of God!” But it is the Word of God as you understand it. Lester would say, “It is the Word of God, period.” To Lester, I had to say, “That’s arrogance and that’s dangerous.” Because if I can claim that my word is the Word of God, period, then I can send you out in the streets to do violence in God’s name, and it happens over and over again. Oh, it’s tricky. It’s subtle, this matter of authority. To say that authority is coming out of my own center is not to say that it is simply a human thing. It is to say that the only manifestation of the Word of God is filtered through the human being and the human soul. But, it is the human being and the human soul, finally, that must take responsibility for that word, believing it to be a word beyond one’s self and yet never able to absolutize it. Lynne Deur is publishing a little book of my sermons, and I had to re-read some of those sermons for her because she had edited a bit and one of them was from 2001, “Dropping the Salvation Fantasy,” a rather daring title for me. As I was reading that sermon, I was reminded again that I wrote down in five minutes eight points as to where I had come, from one place to another, and I took them to Duba’s table. I wrote them on this little piece of paper and kept it in my Bible ever since, because Duncan blessed it. Just off the top of my head, I said, this is where I have moved: © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority? • • • • • • • • Richard A. Rhem Page 7   from conservative orthodoxy to liberal openness, from supernatural theism to religious naturalism, from religion as verifiable truth to religion as experience of the sacred dimension of reality, from religion as dogma to religion as poetry, from religion as institution to religion as community, from religion as consisting of absolute truth to religion as emerging experience, from Christianity as exclusive to Christianity as one magnificent window opening on the holy and the sacred, from religion as salvation from damnation to religion as celebration of life. That was such an energizing, liberating experience to sit down and to write those things and to affirm that is where I am. I’m not trying to reconcile it, fit it into this book, or this institution. I value this. I love the Church. I know that without 2000 years of tradition and institution we wouldn’t be here this morning. But, finally, this is where I’ve come. I know you couldn’t run the Roman Catholic Church on this kind of thing. You can’t even run the Episcopal Church or the Methodist or Presbyterian. But, you can run a local, independent community where every one of you is charged to live out of your own center, to be the center of your own authority, recognizing that as the emanation of that divine Spirit in us all, so that in a sense, as we look into each other’s face, we look into the face of God. Or, on Valentine’s Day weekend in that closing solo of Les Miserables, realizing that to love another person is to see the face of God, knowing that to know that and experience that is quite enough. By what authority? That’s the Word of God as I understand it. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany VI Series A Littlefair Legacy Scripture Text Mark 11:15-19, Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Readings from Duncan E. Littlefair 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-0-20040215 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-15 Title A name given to the resource By What Authority? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 15, 2004 entitled "By What Authority?", as part of the series "A Littlefair Legacy", on the occasion of Epiphany VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 11:15-19. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Authority of Scripture Littlefair https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fa26b2fd8598e214ec76e6d05a76ddb2.mp3 ea2375c30f9221dc16c3d0b9987961ee Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany VII Series A Littlefair Legacy Scripture Text Isaiah 46:1-4, Psalm 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-0-20040222 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-22 Title A name given to the resource One Reality - Rigorous Science, Passionate 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 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 22, 2004 entitled "One Reality - Rigorous Science, Passionate Religion", as part of the series "A Littlefair Legacy", on the occasion of Epiphany VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 46:1-4, Psalm 8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Natural religion https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9dd060e51fbbb28d518f79ae0e3215ee.mp3 f70477a40e2476f90207083f34c34d5d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20f32dafdee30a7a35138af005ab6b38.pdf 4a03e6dd689e62a11788db0bdedd34b5 PDF Text Text This Quiet Dust A Littlefair Legacy, 3 Ecclesiastes 3; II Corinthians 4:16-5:5 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Ash Wednesday, February 25, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon I don't know how many years ago it was that I first received the ashes on my forehead with those somber words, "Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return," a good number of years ago now, but it happened here. It had never been a part of my tradition growing up in the Reformed Church, which is liturgically challenged. I would rather have thought about it as some hocus-pocos Catholic sacramental act with which I would have no truck, being a good evangelical and reformed minister. Then, I experienced it one day, experienced the momentous impact of that honest moment, "Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return," a moment of honesty in a world of superficiality. Perhaps it is that I have moved into the latter decades of my own life that I appreciate it so much. I have come to value it and to treasure it as a pastoral moment, as well, a moment of absolute honesty as I look into your eyes, place the ashes on your head and say, "Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return." We acknowledge the reality of our humanity and our mortality. It is a beautiful moment; this service is an oasis, a sanctuary. It is a quiet place away from a world that is so bombastic with media blitzes, its constant barrage of commercials, its excessive celebrations of Super Bowls and All-Star extravaganzas, of Emmys and Golden Globes, Oscars, and all of the superficiality of those so-called celebrations that mark our society. How different is a moment like this. I don't know whether Dr. Littlefair would enjoy this service or not. He never attended an Ash Wednesday service. And he had pretty much done away with the sacramental and the ritualistic in the worshiping community at Fountain Street. And yet, he loved to sit out there and even on the high holy days when we got out all of the pageantry and all of the symbolism of the tradition, I know how much he enjoyed that. We used to speak about the fact that he was fascinated that we could have translated the understanding of the faith while maintaining those accouterments that have been a part of the tradition down through the centuries. So, I don't know whether he would like this service or not, but I do think he would affirm the honesty and the reality of the moment of our facing each other in the face of our mutual mortality. © Grand Valley State University   �This Quiet Dust Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In preparation for the memorial service while I was in Florida, there were those who very kindly sent me some pieces that were important to Duncan. Jo Earl, his secretary, his friend and his caregiver of over fifty years, sent me some of his favorite poems, and when I read "This Quiet Dust," which is on the cover of your liturgy, I knew that I would be speaking about that this evening, having that be the center of our reflection, although at that time I had not yet thought in terms of a series of messages on A Littlefair Legacy. But, I knew tonight we'd be centered around "This Quiet Dust." It was Duncan's favorite poem, because it expressed so eloquently his faith and his understanding. Before I knew Duncan, I knew of him only by reputation, which of course in Western Michigan was not good. An enemy of the faith, to be sure, one who denied and betrayed the great Christian tradition. I suppose that non-Fountain Street folks got exposed to Duncan most often at funerals where there was a kind of obligatory attendance, therefore the necessity of being submitted to whatever it was that came forth from that pulpit, that infamous pulpit. I do remember, on occasion, people who attended funerals at Fountain Street who would come away saying, "That was awful. There was no comfort, there was no word of hope." I didn't know any better until I came to know Duncan and to know him intimately and to come to understand the nature of his religious faith and experience and expression, and then, of course, I came to understand quite a different picture than that which had been rumored about. I got called this afternoon from an old and very dear friend of mine, John Richard DeWitt. We were classmates together in college and seminary, and he called me from South Carolina where he is now serving as a pastor. He had been in Grand Rapids for a few years at the Seventh Reformed Church. The irony was that Dick and I were just the best of friends, loving each other, and in constant contact and communion over all these many years. He was anchoring the most conservative Reformed Church in the nation and I was anchoring the most liberal. When he came to Grand Rapids, Duncan's dear old friend Lester deKoster joined the Seventh Reformed Church which created quite a stir because he is a person of no mean estate in the Christian Reformed Church. Then he brought Duncan to the Seventh Reformed Church to hear Dick preach because Dick is one of the great preachers in the nation. Duncan loved to hear him preach. The people of Seventh Reformed Church were so thrilled that there was Duncan Littlefair in worship and they began to pray for his soul. Fortunately, he didn't get "saved." But, Lester and Duncan, who had lunch together over all those many years, invited my friend Dick to the table at Duba's, and then Dick invited me and that was the original quartet in the corner of Duba's bar. Dick, a conservative, Reformed, erudite scholar and a gentleman. Lester, a dear, crotchety Calvinist of unbending will. Duncan, off the charts. And when I first came to the table, he said, "Now, tell me who you are," and I said, "Well, I was where Dick still is." So this was the table. I'm telling you this simply because today, unannounced, Dick called from Carolina and, of course, we talked about Duncan. I told him how I concluded the memorial message saying that I wanted to share a secret with you that Duncan © Grand Valley State University �This Quiet Dust Richard A. Rhem Page 3   was a man who lived in constant God-consciousness, that he was a man drunk with God. My friend Dick said, "You're right." Now, that's quite remarkable, isn't it, when you think about it? Quite amazing, really. Two people raised in a very conservative tradition, one remaining there, faithful to that tradition, one having traversed the whole spectrum to quite another position. But, nonetheless, both of us bearing witness to the Godconsciousness of Duncan Littlefair. If you were here on Sunday, you perhaps got at least a hint of the nature of that God-consciousness as Duncan experienced it. It was a God-consciousness that was experienced within the one reality of which we are a part. I understood a liberal as one who recognized that the sciences were laying bare the mysteries of the natural world, and the liberal religious scholar was one who finally gave up trying to find knowledge of the world in the Bible, gave up this authoritative text in terms of the knowledge of reality and nature, the universe, and instead listened to what the scientist had to say about the nature of this reality and then sought to find the way to live religiously within that reality. That reality which was laid bare was a miracle, full of mystery, full of wonder. The reality of which we are a part fills one with awe and no one lived with a greater sense of the wonder and the awe, the miracle of life, than Duncan Littlefair. But, as I said on Sunday, if you were a particular kind of liberal, a Chicago School liberal, a modernist, then you didn't look for God in some other realm, you didn't posit a dualism, a realm of nature and a realm of spirit, a realm of the natural and a realm of the supernatural, but you experienced or looked for the Mystery, the creative center of reality within the structures of nature itself. That was the core and the key to the religious experience of Duncan Littlefair, that eloquent spokesman of that Chicago School, that found the richness of life as the location of the mystery of God, that creative center of things, that creative ground of things, that unfolding miracle which we are all living together. It was that which created wonder and awe and caused one to live with growing awareness and appreciation, and consequently, with reverence and with gratitude. When I read "This Quiet Dust," it was as if Duncan had written it himself. Here in my curving hands I cup This quiet dust; I lift it up, Here is the mother of all thought; Of this the shining heavens are wrought, The laughing lips, the feet that rove, The face, the body that you love; Mere dust, no more, yet nothing less, And this has suffered consciousness, Passion and Terror, this again Shall suffer passion, death and pain. © Grand Valley State University �This Quiet Dust Richard A. Rhem Page 4   For, as all flesh must die, so all, Now dust, shall live. 'Tis natural; Yet hardly do I understand – Here in the hollow of my hand A bit of God himself I keep, Between two vigils fallen asleep. I read that and I said, "Wow". Is that not a magnificent and profound expression of a religious naturalism that understands the unitary nature of reality? This cosmic process of which we are the unfolding part, the emerging wonder, this 13.7 billion-year process in which that dust and matter, that material has emerged into life and into conscious life, suffering consciousness, pain and terror and death, this dust reflective, of course, of that creation story as the Creator scoops a handful of the dust of the earth to create the creature, and reflective, too, of that most profound insight of the Christian tradition, that eternal word or intention of God becoming flesh. God becoming human. No one has ever seen God, the one who dwells in love, dwells in God and God in that one. This quiet dust with the potential of the divine in the human - Wow! That's amazing. The writer of Ecclesiastes was a thinker, a poet, a skeptic, sometimes almost a cynic. It's really interesting that that Hebrew writing made the cut in the canon. As I read, he was talking about the fact that animal breath and human breath are the same, an insight way beyond his time of the unitary structure of reality. And then raising the question, even his recognition of the animal nature of the human and the continuity between the animal and the human, and then wondering what happens to that breath or spirit, because in Hebrew it is the same word, Ruach. What happens to that Ruach? Who knows, he says. Does the spirit of the human go upward and the spirit of the mere animal go downward to the earth? He didn't know. The Christian tradition, of course, centered on the resurrection. Paul speaks about something more. He talks about this earthly tabernacle being dissolved. There again, "Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return." But, of course, with his encounter with that visionary experience he has of the risen Christ, he speaks of being clothed upon. Well, he doesn't know what he's talking about, either. But, he's wondering, and of course we wonder, don't we? Duncan loved "This Quiet Dust" because it spoke so eloquently of the unitary nature of reality that emanated in the miracle of life which was to be savored, tasted, lived fully, celebrated to the miracle, wonder, glory and joy of life. Is that enough? I think we who have been so conditioned by a very traditional Christian understanding speak about something more and when we face death with one another, the clichés trip off our tongues rather lightly, clichés about which I think we don't often think deeply, and I'm not here this evening to tell you about your © Grand Valley State University �This Quiet Dust Richard A. Rhem Page 5   own hope of something more or confidence in something more, or to be honest with you, perhaps your journey has been something like mine where I have come to an awareness of the miracle of life and the living of that in all of its wonder, more and more wondering myself, if this isn't enough, I really don't know. No one knows. This quiet dust now between two vigils. "Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return," but will that dust return again to life and the miracle of it all? You see, we wonder about things beyond our knowledge very naturally. Duncan perhaps could have lived a while yet, but he bargained with his doctor to let him go home, and his daughter told me when I called from Florida that when they took him out of the ambulance on the gurney and brought him into his home, he had the most serene smile on his face. He was home. But, he was home because he was always home. Dear God, what a gift, his life, this life. A year ago, perhaps on All Saints Day, my sermon subject was "The Secret of Dying Well Is Living Well." Duncan lived so well. He died so well, and when I see that, then simply for me, it is enough. References: John Hall Wheelock (1886-1978), “This Quiet Dust.” © 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 Ash Wednesday Series A Littlefair Legacy Scripture Text Ecclesiastes 3, II Corinthians 4:16-5:5 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References John Hall Wheelock (1886-1978), "This Quiet Dust." 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-0-20040225 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-25 Title A name given to the resource This Quiet Dust Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 25, 2004 entitled "This Quiet Dust", as part of the series "A Littlefair Legacy", on the occasion of Ash Wednesday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3, II Corinthians 4:16-5:5. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Littlefair miracle of life https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fcca773596086c525f761def2de68823.mp3 b26127c725ac1fcc85bbc64b32362991 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent I Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text Luke 22:14-23 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-0-20040229 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-02-29 Title A name given to the resource Remembering The Way He Was Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 29, 2004 entitled "Remembering The Way He Was", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Lent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 22:14-23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Historical Jesus Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e8abbe1ccd7abb62d747fb166c7ac9a4.mp3 0819db9323d8cd7a0e1e78bc4c6281fa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Series I Choose to Believe, Scripture Text Isaiah 44:9-20, Acts 17:16-31 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-0-20040303 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-03-03 Title A name given to the resource About 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 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 March 3, 2004 entitled "About Religion", as part of the series "I Choose to Believe, ", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 44:9-20, Acts 17:16-31. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Inclusive Religion https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cefbf91ad5ffd23d62b1c0bf8fa772ea.mp3 94f7236c0f843c9b5e94e5f35fc5883e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c3662b5357657e3f7f13d9a683ece424.pdf 3f54a1a2eab731cc546d4539c8826732 PDF Text Text Jesus, the Truth of God From the series: Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Text: John 14:1-14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 7, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon For a Lesson From the Present, I want to read a paragraph from Walter Wink’s book, The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man, which is the book, the reason, why I wanted him here in our midst in the first place, a very, very interesting study. In the course of his discussion, he writes: If God is in some sense true humanness, then divinity inverts itself. Divinity is not a qualitatively different reality. Quite the reverse. Divinity is fully realized humanity. Well, that’s only about 180 degrees from anything you’ve ever heard in church. I’ll read it again. Quite the reverse. Divinity is fully realized humanity. Only God is, as it were, human. The goal of life, then, is not to become something we are not, divine, but to become what we truly are, human. We are not required to become divine, flawless, perfect, without blemish. We are invited simply to become human which means growing through our sins and mistakes, learning by trial and error, being redeemed over and over from compulsive behavior, becoming ourselves, scars and all,. It means embracing and transforming those elements in us that we find unacceptable. It means giving up pretending to be good and instead becoming real. Jesus incarnated God in his own person in order to show all of us how to incarnate God, and to incarnate God is what it means to be fully human. That, too, is the word of God. The season of Lent invites us to remember Jesus, because in remembering Jesus we experience God. That is our story. That’s what has been the mark of the Christian tradition. We find our window to God in Jesus, so our identity statement claims, and that has been the central thrust of our understanding and our community experience together. Probably almost every one of us was born into and nurtured in the Christian tradition. Almost the whole human family that © Grand Valley State University   �Jesus, the Truth of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   is religious continues in that religious tradition into which they were born. And so, when we claim Jesus as our window to God we are not claiming an exclusivism. We are simply claiming that’s our story, and that’s the story that we celebrate together, and the Lenten season is an invitation to remember Jesus in order that we might again in a fresh way have the experience of that holy Mystery that we call God. And so, this Second Sunday in Lent, I am suggesting to you that Jesus is the truth of God. Not the truth of God in propositional terms, the kind of factual data like 2 + 2 ids 4, or that this congregation was founded in 1870 or anything like that, but rather, that Jesus is the truth of God in the sense that there in the embodiment, in that incarnation we say God. That that person, that consciousness, that human being is for us who continue in that flow of Christian tradition, that is the clue as to the Mystery of the Divine. I suppose that there is no text that has been quoted to me or quoted against me more than John 14:6, “Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life.” And nobody quotes that to me or against me because he said that, it is what he said after that - “No one comes to the father but by me.” Therefore, the claim is that John, the Bible in general, is clearly a book that portrays an exclusive salvation through Jesus Christ alone. I’m not sure that Jesus said it anyway, but I wish that John hadn’t said he said it. It would have made things a lot easier. But, as a matter of fact, I’m not sure that John intended - I’m sure he did not intend – that that statement would be used in a battle of exclusivism over against a broader understanding of the grace of God. What he was intending is quite clear in the context, and certainly something that I would want to affirm. He was affirming that in Jesus there is the way of life, the truth of life, the way to God; this is that which is embodied in Jesus is the way and the truth and the life, and as a matter of fact, it would be impossible to know God or to experience God apart from that way that Jesus was embodying. I think that that broader interpretation of that particular statement is clarified in the subsequent discussion with Phillip. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me,” but now you know the father as you know me. You have seen the father, and so forth. Phillip says, “What? Show us the father and we will be satisfied. Come on, Jesus, just open up the abyss of the mystery of reality and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said, “You don’t get it, do you, Phillip?” “Well,. What do you mean I don’t get it?” “I’ve been with you so long and you still don’t get it. Look at me. You’re looking at God.” © Grand Valley State University �Jesus, the Truth of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Well, that doesn’t sound so radical to us because we know that’s true, don’t we? After all, this Jew Jesus who was running with Phillip and Thomas and Peter and James and John, gathering around campfires and getting their feet dusty in sandals, eating together and dialoguing together, and I hope joking together, this Jew Jesus, well, we know, don’t we? This is no ordinary human being. Why, this was the second person of the Trinity, the pre-existing one who came down from another realm, donned human garments, stood in our midst. So, of course, Phillip, how come you don’t get it? Jesus, God. We who stand 2000 years later who have had the blessing or the plague of all of those Christological creeds that have elevated Jesus from that Jewish, rather charismatic leader, an extraordinary human being, no doubt, but nonetheless, still a human being, we hear that statement to Phillip and it doesn’t shock us because we think, “Why couldn’t Phillip see,” because we know this was odd. Well, of course Phillip didn’t get it because Phillip didn’t know this was God. Phillip thought it was his Jewish brother leader, and if we could go back there and whisper in Phillip’s ear what we know about Jesus, he’d say “What? I’ve been with the guy.” And if we take Jesus aside and say, “You know what they’re saying about you?” he’d say, “About me?” Jesus would not recognize our exalted Son of God. And so, the radicality of what he said to Phillip comes back. Phillip is to look into the face of another human being, Jesus by name, who is saying to him, “Look at me and see me, you see God.” Now that was a radical claim. We say it theologically and philosophically, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” “No one has ever seen God, the only begotten son in the bosom of the father, he has made God known.” The first epistle of John, the fourth chapter, “No one has ever seen God. The one who dwells in love dwells in God and God dwells in that one.” It’s all pretty simple. Except that the radicality of the claim was that the human being was saved. To look into my human visage is to look into the face of God, because, as a matter of fact, God has emerged in the human. That is what the Gospel claims. References: Walter Wink. The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man. Augsburg Fortress, 2002. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text John 14:1-14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Walter Wink: The Human Being: Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man, 2002. 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-0-20040307 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-03-07 Title A name given to the resource Jesus, the Truth of God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 7, 2004 entitled "Jesus, the Truth of God", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 14:1-14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Human as Divine Non-exclusivism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ca0f94d5ded23ef2a9b140556380e774.mp3 823a60f76b7991bf8686bd2b01afa77a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Series I Choose to Believe Scripture Text Luke 9:51-56, 22:39-46, 23:32-38 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-0-20040310 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-03-10 Title A name given to the resource About Christian Faith 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 March 10, 2004 entitled "About Christian Faith", as part of the series "I Choose to Believe", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 9:51-56, 22:39-46, 23:32-38. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Christian Faith Inclusive https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5535d0e49e772aa0cf075ba97f52330e.mp3 28ed9e3c06bb372c303a28da568d63f7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Series I Choose to Believe Scripture Text Psalm 139, Matthew 5:43-48 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20040317 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-03-17 Title A name given to the resource About the Bible 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 March 17, 2004 entitled "About the Bible", as part of the series "I Choose to Believe", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 139, Matthew 5:43-48. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Critical Thinking Scripture https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cf4c036db374f1b659f4f609aa92ab6b.mp3 c8c52a05841e676edb84320be595fcd1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d8f005ffe23ce033843fa4664a70281e.pdf cf4f3cea3f0eee57773bddf9a55fba14 PDF Text Text Do You Suppose God Is Really Like That? The Prodigal Son’s Father From the series: Stories Jesus Told Luke 15:11-24 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 28, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon This Lenten season we are remembering Jesus, hoping thereby to experience God, and we remember Jesus not because he was alien, a God-figure from beyond that entered our history, donned our human nature and effected our salvation only to return to that eternal state. Rather, we remember Jesus because as John’s Gospel said, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and that marvelous insight which is much more profound, I think, than anyone has ever plumbed, is that God has become human. So, in remembering Jesus, we are remembering a human being about whom our tradition has said, “There God is embodied.” A couple of weeks ago, Walter Wink was with us to suggest that our calling as human beings is not to become God-like, but to become fully human, because God is the only Human Being with a capital H and a capital B; and, that this cosmic process of billions of years has been evolving and has issued into this present state in which we are the products of that emerging process - alive, conscious, able to contemplate it all. That cosmic process of billions of years has culminated in the likes of us, but as Walter Wink reminded us, we are only primitively human, we are only human on the way, and if that insight of Jesus as the Son of the Man would indicate, then it is toward that full human existence that we are moving, by God’s grace, in order that we might become human as God is Human. And so, in remembering Jesus, we are seeking to experience God. Jesus is our story. There have been other human beings who have been overcome with encounter, who have been overwhelmed by some moment of epiphany, some rifting of the sky, some theophany, some manifestation of that Ultimate Mystery. Abraham heard a voice or saw a vision or had a dream and the instruction was to leave his family and his environment and go out. For Moses, it was a burning bush. The experience of the Buddha in enlightenment was not other than that, and Mohammed had visions which he then recorded in the Koran. Our window on God is Jesus and in John’s Gospel again, in that conversation with Phillip, as we noted, Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have © Grand Valley State University   �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   seen the father.” To look upon the face of God, look upon the face of the human. And so, we have our window, Jesus, and it was Jesus’ life. But in his life, Jesus was a storyteller, and he told the story which I read a moment ago which is perhaps his most familiar and best-loved parable, the parable of the Prodigal Son. The story has a lot to say about the son, about human nature, but it’s more profoundly a parable about a prodigal God. It is a parable about the nature of God, for the father in the story is obviously God. As Jesus tells that story, he reveals his understanding, his sense of the nature of God. I want to think about that with you this morning with a question, and this is my question to you: Do you suppose God is really like that? The father represents God in Jesus’ parable. Do you think God is like the father in the parable? If the father image bothers you, if that is too much a throwback to an old, supernatural being beyond us, or if the father image as father bothers you, let it go. Think in terms of the Ultimate Mystery, or a source and ground of being, that abyss of limitless being out of which flows all that is. I don’t care how you think of it; image it any way you want to, it doesn’t matter. But, Jesus was talking about that which was ultimate. He was talking about Ultimate Reality. He was talking about the sacred, the holy, the Mystery. He was talking about God. I wonder, and I want you to keep asking yourself this morning, “Do I really suppose that that Ultimate, that God, is like that? Like the father figure in the story?” The story is so familiar. There is the request of the younger son against all tradition and all decency, really, to have his inheritance ahead of time so that he can depart, and he goes off into the far country. Since we’re focusing on the father figure, I want you to simply note that there was total freedom given to the son. There was no injured pride. There was no weeping and wailing. There was no judgmental attitude. There was no alienation. Jesus says the son made the request and we know the request was contrary to family order. But, there was no protest. The father gave him his inheritance and he left without any brokenness, any estrangement, which says to me that the Ultimate Mystery in Jesus’ mind is that which offers freedom, total freedom, that we write our own script. Now, when I say total freedom, I know I am speaking in a community where we have such ability to write our script. We are, of all people, most blessed with our resources, with our context. And I know that that is not true of millions and millions of earth’s children, so when I speak about the freedom to write our own script, I am mindful of the fact that that freedom has in some cases severe limitations. You perhaps have been reading again about women in Afghanistan immolating themselves, setting themselves on fire. Can you imagine? Can you imagine how tragic must be the human existence of one who would be driven to that kind of absolute desperation? Did you catch in the newscast last night that in Palestine the little children are collecting cards like our kids collect cards? Baseball cards, right? No. The Palestinian children are collecting martyr cards. Some Palestinian entrepreneur has created cards with the pictures of those who have been martyred. There were all these little children with their cards and they © Grand Valley State University �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   were filling their albums with martyr cards. Can you imagine a child growing up who, rather than having baseball cards, has martyr cards? Or, that young lad, 14 years old, with a bomb strapped to him who was fortunately intercepted by the Israelis, a suicide bomber really not wanting to die? So, when I think about freedom to write our script, I know I’m talking to those of us who have so much, so much beyond so many of the world’s peoples. There are limits to that freedom, but nonetheless, if there is no longer any freedom, there is no longer any humanity and so I would say that in the story Jesus tells, what he is saying in that getting over the yielding to the request of the younger son is that there is no absolute script that is written; there is no predestinated story that is unfolding according to some eternal plan; there is no sovereign, ultimate, absolutism in history. It is rather that we write the story with freedom in greater or lesser degree. Do you think God is like that? Do you think that reality is like that? Do you think that our human experience is like that? We can go from the departure of the son directly to his return. We don’t have to go into the far country and linger there, although a lot of great sermons have satisfied prurient interest about what went on in the brothels and the pig sties, but we don’t really need to go there because this story isn’t about the experience of the son. It’s really about the father. And so, from that granting of freedom, we go to that gracious welcome, a welcome that if you knew the color of the local society, the father an elderly gentleman picking up his robe and running to meet the son, defies all of the local custom about dignity and honor and what is right and proper, the father who doesn’t let the son get his well-rehearsed story out, but rather, embraces him with tears. Eighteen months or so ago, a few of us were in St. Petersburg and I stood in the Hermitage before that huge canvas of Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal,” and pictured there is that old man, his arms straight from his shoulders, the son stooping before him, with a welcome without recrimination, with a welcome without any sign of alienation, with a welcome without any word of rebuke, that spoke not at all of some period of probation, a welcome that simply was a reunion and a celebration full of love and grace. © Grand Valley State University �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Do you suppose that God is really like that? Do you suppose that the ultimate mystery of reality is like that? Well, if we would put it in contemporary terms that we have been talking about God becoming human, do you suppose that the cosmic process of 13 billion years has a bias toward love and grace? Would you think that maybe in this evolving process onto which stage we have emerged there is something intrinsic in the process itself that has a bias, a tendency toward love and grace, that kind of magnificent picture that Jesus drew for us? Or, would you say “No. No, a cosmic reality has no bias toward love and grace. It is a random process, a random, neutral process unfolding.” You may be right about that. But, if that is the case, we have emerged and one emerged about whom they said there is the embodiment of what is ultimate in the mystery of God, and that one told a story about this kind of love and grace and we have made that one our centerpiece, that one we say is our window on God; and that one spoke about that which is ultimate in terms of love and grace. So maybe it is a random process. Here we are; who would have thought it? Nobody directed it. That’s one possibility, but here we are and we can gather around a story like that © Grand Valley State University �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   which says that the ultimate values are freedom and love and grace effecting reunion and reconciliation. So, whether the process has that within itself or we come on the stage and recognize that and invest it with ultimate meaning, it doesn’t really matter. Whether intrinsic in the process or affirmed by us, love and grace and reconciliation and reunion are the Ultimate. Do you think, do you suppose that that’s the way it is at the heart of things? That’s not the way it is in traditional religious understanding. That’s not the way it is in traditional Christian understanding, for while in traditional Christian understanding the parable of the Prodigal Son is a piece of the puzzle, it is jammed into the blender with a lot of other stuff and what we get is an homogenized view in which you have to add some stuff to the parable of the prodigal in order to get a decent God. In the traditional view, there is something more that you have in the parable of the prodigal. The father who, in freedom, allows one to write one’s own story, and with gracious openness receives that one back into the bosom of love, in traditional Christianity you have, and it’s right at the heart of this season, you have the whole atonement thing and of course, the world will never be the same after Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” It will take another whole generation to wash out that popularization of the very worst conception of the death of Jesus. But there that violent suffering, that horrible suffering of Jesus is a sign of the costliness of the sacrifice that was demanded in order for God to be able to forgive us. That’s 180 degrees from the parable of the prodigal, for the father in the prodigal needed no payment, no pound of flesh nor pint of blood. The father in the prodigal parable simply, with heart broken with joy, received the son home. And that is 180 degrees from traditional Christian atonement theology which says yes, God is loving and because God is loving, God provided a way, but God is also just and therefore needed God’s honor to be satisfied. Those two are in irreconcilable conflict. I see it more clearly every day of my life. Those are two conceptions of God. Those are two conceptions of Ultimate Reality. In yesterday’s paper, perhaps you read that the final volume of the Left Behind series is out. This is a series of novels about the last things, the end times, a dramatization of the Book of Revelation. It is a total misreading and misunderstanding of the revelation of Jesus Christ to John, the last book of the Second Testament. It is a literalization of that which is highly symbolic, and it makes that writing, which was aimed at its own historical context in a time of intense persecution in the early days in the Christian movement, into history written ahead of time of the last times; and it is a travesty of any kind of intelligent biblical understanding or interpretation. But, be that as it may, other than that, how did I feel about it? This is more serious. This is a book review. The title of the book is Glorious Appearing, The End of Days. Apparently, those few believers who were not raptured at the time that Jesus came to take them out of history, those who were left and those who were converted during the time of tribulation are hovering in a rock fortress, and this review says, © Grand Valley State University �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   ... This rock fortress has been protected by God time and time again, but now its inhabitants face a mighty army whose sole goal is absolute annhililation. This battle is the Battle of Armageddon, it is the battle of the end time. Armageddon is a valley in Israel and this is the final battle when Jesus comes and encounters Satan and Satan’s hosts who have been, of course, afflicting the believers. Apparently this head dog is Carpathia and Carpathia himself leads the charge. But, he is no match for Jesus Christ who returns as prophesied to save the fortress. The battles continue with Jesus’ words alone wiping out hundreds of thousands of troops. The culmination is at the holy city of Jerusalem fractured into three by earthquakes as Jesus wins his final victory. Judgment comes for followers of Satan, but it is the peace that Jesus brings to believers that touches the heart. While Jenkins’ writing is swift and a bit colloquial, his use of scripture is truly inspired. Nothing but scripture is spoken by Christ, portions of the Bible that bring comfort, judgment, war and love. That Jesus is a warrior. That Jesus slays thousands with his words. That Jesus wins the final triumph, and effects the salvation of those that believe and the eternal damnation of those he destroys. That Jesus is totally contrary to the Jesus who tells the story that we looked at this morning, where the Ultimate Mystery is love and grace, where there is no final “No,” where the door is always open and the light is burning forever in the window. This is not just an incidental matter. This conception, the traditional conception of a God who needs a pound of flesh and a pint of blood, whose son will return as a warrior to destroy the wicked, this God is a God drawn by the myth of redemptive violence that ultimately the peaceable kingdom will be issued in by violence. Walter Wink used that phrase, the myth of redemptive violence. It is a totally different conception of the heart and center of reality, and in that myth of redemptive violence, you effect finally peace through war. President Woodrow Wilson had a dream of the League of Nations which his own Senate voted not to enter when it was established, but he led us into the First World War, a war to end all wars. More recently we have gone into Iraq in order to bring democracy into the Middle East and we continue to live under the delusion of the myth of redemptive violence. You may say to me, “Well, what is the other answer, then? Passivism?” I would say no, not passivism. It is non-violent resistance, and the cost of non-violent resistance may well be crucifixion and there may be hell to pay for a long time, but I’ll tell you this - it is the way of Jesus and it is the only hope of salvation of the world. There will never be peace brought by violence if we believe Jesus. If we believe Jesus, then there is wonderful news and scary news. The wonderful news is that the ultimate values are freedom and grace and love, that love and grace alone transform. Violence can coerce. Violence can control. Violence can keep the demons at bay. Love and grace alone transform. Love and grace alone alter consciousness. Jesus told the story about the Ultimate Mystery, God, being a God of freedom and grace. That’s the good news. The scary news is that it is in our hands. It is in our hands. © Grand Valley State University �Do You Suppose God is Really Like That? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   So, do you suppose that God is really that? Where did you get your image of God? Handed down, of course, as with all of us. But, isn’t it time for us to receive those traditional images critically and then take responsibility for the choice we make as to what is ultimate? The choice we make will determine whether the human family has a future, whether the peaceable kingdom will ever be realized. What do you think? © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent V Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text Luke 15:11-24 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20040328 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-03-28 Title A name given to the resource Do You Suppose God Is Really Like That? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 28, 2004 entitled "Do You Suppose God Is Really Like That?", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 15:11-24. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eschatology Grace Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/55841695425903d393e0d9c42e6beba7.mp3 aaf308b45480b680f29037acf8aceaf9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d1252e5f8978008830c8c117cc2b798.pdf 160625694162c7e874504fc9749588e6 PDF Text Text The Destabilizing, Troubling God From the series: Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Luke 19:35-20:2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 4, 2004 Palm Sunday Transcription of the spoken sermon The Gospel lesson that I read is really my favorite Palm Sunday passage. It's a very moving passage, such a poignant moment. By the time that Luke wrote that Gospel, of course, it was a half century since Jesus had lived and approached Jerusalem. Luke did not have to make Jesus a predictor of the future as he foresaw the devastation that would befall that city. For Luke, as he wrote, it was history. Jerusalem was an ash heap. The temple was no more. It was no longer the center of the ritual life of Israel. It wasn't even a significant center for the Jesus Movement at that point. Although Luke has him looking over the city and predicting the devastation, he did not have to have some kind of supernatural power to do that, for it must have been obvious to such a sensitive soul that there would be this moment of conflagration in wake of the confrontation that was inevitable. And so, he has Jesus weeping over the city, saying "If only you had recognized the things that make for peace." But, it was too late. In any given historical moment and situation, it can be too late to do the things that make for peace. In the words of Yogi Berra, I wonder on Palm Sunday, "Déja vu all over again?" Will the cycle of violence, the violence of the occupier continue to elicit the violence of the occupied, which in turn, will elicit greater violence by the occupier? Will the imperial power with its brand of violence through exploitation and domination always oppress to the point where there will be violence in return, which in turn will demand a greater expression of violence? What do you think? Do you think that it's just always going to be that way? Are you a kind of a realist who shrugs their shoulders and says, "Well, that's the human situation. It's always been that way; it's always going to be that way." Or, another possibility is that you may be one of the minority who really believe that we are on a course to destruction, maybe some global nuclear catastrophe, or © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 2 maybe just the continual fouling of the earth, the air, the water. Do you perhaps fall into that group that sees doom down the line? Or, do you think that maybe we'll get on top of this? Do you think maybe, given enough time, given enough ingenuity, resource, power, finally we'll be able to bring some kind of humane, global community to birth? What do you think? What do you think? You know there's always been a dream deep down in the human heart, a dream of an alternative possibility, a dream of an alternative world. I think, for example, of the Hebrew prophets - they were such towering figures. We modern folks sometimes think that the world just arrived in our coming and that we're so smart, but 2500 years ago a magnificent dream of another possibility found expression through, for example, Isaiah, who envisioned a new creation, who envisioned a world in which people would plant gardens and eat the produce thereof and build houses and be able to dwell in them. He envisioned a world in which the lion and the lamb would lie down together and no one would hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain. Or Micah, who envisioned a world in which swords would be beaten into plowshares and every person would sit under his own fig tree and dwell in safety. Those were ancient dreams. The intuition of the human heart is known for a long time. With the violence and the destruction, war, domination and exploitation, oppression, suffering and tragedy - people have known for generations and millennia that there ought to be another possibility. The Hebrew prophets, as I said, were dreamers. They dreamed about Shalom. They had hope in history. The prophets spoke about judgment. They called the people to account and they were quick to point out where the covenant was broken. But, in the Hebrew prophet, judgment was always in order to restore and to renew. Judgment was always in order to turn and to call to repentance in order that there might again be established that covenant. Judgment was never absolute with the Hebrew prophet because the Hebrew prophet had hope in history, because that prophet believed in the movement of God in history. The prophet had hope in the historical process. There's another biblical model, however, and that's the model of the apocalyptist, for example, a John the Baptist. The apocalyptist despaired of history. He threw up his hands. He lost hope. He simply despaired of the possibility of any kind of amelioration within the process of history itself The apocalyptist threw up his hands, despaired, and cried unto God to do something, to intervene dramatically. When Walter Wink was here, he suggested that the apocalyptist created that vision in order that people might be shocked and turn around. I'm not sure he's right about that. I think the apocalyptist had so given up on history and the possibility of any kind of renewal, that he said, "God, how long, how long? Do something!" And when I read the apocalyptist in scripture, I get the sense that he © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 3 can hardly wait, because, of course, he is the righteous and it is the wicked, the other that will be damned. So, there is that dualism in apocalyptic literature. The Book of Revelation is an apocalyptic reading in the New Testament with its visions of the gore of the judgment of God when the city will run with blood up to the halter of the horse. There is a kind of celebration in that. The apocalyptist, in contrast to the Hebrew prophet who had hope in history, was despairing of history and saying, "God, bring down the curtain of history. Damn the wicked, and vindicate your people!" Both the Hebrew prophet and the apocalyptist shared the conviction that, finally, God would intervene one way or another. The attitude was totally different, the spirit was different, the vision was different, but both of them had a sense that God was the sovereign of history who would eventually bring all things to consummation. That particular biblical vision was secularized in the modern period, particularly in the 19th century with the dawning of historical consciousness and the idea of evolution that was everywhere. The climate of opinion of all thinking people was shaped by the idea of evolution, evolutionary development, the 18th- century Enlightenment and then in the 19th century, for example, Charles Darwin and the "Origin of the Species," and there was a great optimism that arose. This was a secularized vision, really, of the biblical paradigm, but it would come now through education and human progress and human invention and ingenuity. As the 20th century dawned, Protestantism had moved to a classic liberal phase. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man was the great model. There was this great anticipation. I still subscribe to the most well-respected journal of Christianity, The Christian Century. It was named as the 20th-Century dawned. This would be the "Christian Century," and there was a great optimism about the human possibility. There was a kind of secularization of the biblical vision. But, here, too, in a secular way through progress and education, we were moving toward the kingdom of God. And then the 20th century - World War I in the second decade of that century. During that same decade, the Communist Revolution and eventually the Stalinist Communist regime with millions and millions and millions of people annihilated. Then the rise of Fascism in Germany, the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Holocaust, the Second World War, the chaos of a world in the grips of devastation and violence. And the Cold War and the nuclear standoff of terror, the balance of terror. And '89 wasn't it, when the Berlin Wall went down and then the Balkans, after a bit of euphoria, exploded? Then Desert Storm. The 21st century dawns and 9-11 happens, and there is Iraq and there is Madrid, smoldering a second time. And in Falluga last week four American mercenaries are killed and their bodies are desecrated and there is rejoicing in the street, young men celebrating because the mighty have fallen and there has been pain and a wound inflicted on the great Satan. Well, what do you think? Do you think it's just always going to be this way? Where the occupying violence elicits violence from the occupied, which calls forth © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 4 increased violence from the occupier? Of course. Of course. Our leaders tells us that Falluga will not intimidate us and our resolve is firm and we are poised to make a statement violently. That, I suppose, is necessary in order to remind the occupied that violence won't work. But, violence does work, for the terrorist is not an animal, the terrorist is a human being who in his own way has despaired like the apocalyptist, only he has taken God's role into his own hands. He is a freedom fighter of sorts. He is an idealist, a dreamer, except his dream has been crushed. Those young men celebrating in the streets - it's a terrible thing, it's an awful thing. And after we feel the horror of it, we get very angry about it, but those kids are just kids, and they are doing what happens sometimes in a soccer game in Europe where they get to rioting after England and France have played, and if we don't know that, within our own hearts, there dwells the potential for the very same kind of exuberant celebration in the light of the putting down of the big one, then we don't know ourselves very well. Those boys who appeared on television are mothers' sons, you know, nurtured in a culture of Saddamic oppression, and now occupied by the mightiest power on earth. What do you think? Is it just always going to go on this way? I entitled the sermon "The Destabilizing, Troubling God," and I was thinking about Jesus as the embodiment of God. Kings and empires don't appreciate destabilizers and troublers. Old King Ahab, who was the epitome of the worst king of Israel, when he met the prophet Elijah, said, "Oh, thou troubler of Israel," and Elijah had to say to him, "Ah, King, I'm not the troubler of Israel." The prophet would speak the word of God into the established, structured situation where that situation had become oppressive or dominating, where that structure had become defeating of the human possibility. And then in the name of the God of justice and righteousness and compassion, the prophet would roar. Kings don't like prophets, and empires don't welcome prophets. It was obvious that the temple establishment and the Roman imperial authority had to get their heads together and do something about Jesus. People were spellbound by him because somehow or other he addressed people in such a way that he elicited from them their humanity, their deeper humanity, and he gave them again some reason to hope and some new possibility. His action in Jerusalem, which was the culmination of that long journey there, was destabilizing and troubling. Not to the people, but to the established authority who had a vested interest in keeping the status quo. Ah, don't we long for stasis? Status quo? Stability? We're willing almost to give up all of our rights if we could just find some methodology by which there could be guaranteed to us absolute security. If we could just get back to normal, if the world could just be turned back again to where you could go about doing your business or travel where you wanted to travel without worrying about boarding a plane or a train, or what the next CNN report might have to say, where you could © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 5 just get on with your life like it used to be, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could return to normalcy? Well, let's turn up the pressure. Let's turn the screws. Let's get stronger, more powerful. Let's dare the violent terrorist to raise his head. That's been the pattern for thousands of years, hasn't it? And the world has always been violent, but it's just that we have the potential now to do it so much better. We can do it so much more broadly. We can do it with so much more devastation. We can wipe out continents today, so why don't we just continue to do like we've always done? What do you think? Is that a possibility? Would that work? Can we finally effect transformation that way? As I come to the end of my ministry, I am so amazed at the impotence of the Church, and this country is the most religious in the modern, industrialized world. I am so amazed how we have been co-opted by the powers that be. We claim to follow Jesus. Well, we've made of him a savior figure to deal with us individually in our sin problem, but I suspect, as Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem, he wasn't worrying about what Mel Gibson says he was worried about, that is that he was going to bear the sin of the world as a sacrifice to God, but I suspect really what he was worried about was the absolute, tragic devastation that was going to be visited on this holy city, this heart of Israel, his people. His despair was the fact that no one was working toward peace, but rather, the powers that be were working at the status quo which was a continuation of the domination system. I think that's why he wept. I suspect he weeps still. Do you know a better way? I know you can identify with the dream. I know you wish there were peace and normalcy and I believe you are people of good heart who wish it for all people everywhere, which of course you do. Then, how long will we continue to operate under the myth of redemptive violence, that one more show of force or one more war or one more military escapade will finally bring peace? When will we find something inside us so stirred and transformed that we will as a people rise up and say, "You only find peace not by preparing for war, but by working toward peace." André Trochmé was a French Reformed pastor during the Second World War who saved scores and scores of Jewish people. He was a pacifist and was interned and, while he was in the camp, Stalingrad fell to the Germans. The Germans rejoiced and someone said to Trochmé, "You pacifist, if you had been in Stalingrad, should they have defended themselves? Or should they just have given up?" He said, "No. Of course, they had to defend themselves, because by the time the siege was laid, it was too late." You don't get into the crisis itself and then decide to lay down your arms. You work toward a situation where you avoid that moment, because then it's too late. That's what Jesus said - "If only you could have seen the things that make for peace, but it's too late." Do you know that there is only one nation on earth that can change the ongoing scenario of violence begetting violence begetting more violence? There's only one © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 6 nation on earth that can alter that, and you know who it is. We who have power, wealth and dominance beyond anybody who is even close to second place are the only people on earth who could lead a global movement against violence, for an alternative method for the relating of the human family. This morning as I sat in my loft, it was still dark, and I looked out the window over the lake and suddenly smoky clouds cleared and there was this magnificent moon all ready to set into the sea. And a little later, behind me was the rising of this golden sun in crystal clear air. As I looked out my window, the pussy willow was in blossom and the daffodils are trying to push their way into bloom, and I thought to myself "What a wonderful world!" And when you add to the wonder of earth coming alive the possibility for human relationship, for love and grace, embrace, Oh dear God, let us not let it all come to ashes. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text Luke 19:35-20:2 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-0-20040404 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-04-04 Title A name given to the resource The Destabilizing, Troubling God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 4, 2004 entitled "The Destabilizing, Troubling God", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:35-20:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eschatology Grace Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8d677ab1ded5702351d97beae55ce77c.mp3 a273e9f4020bed7df0189d71d4909407 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ca8d2a0a63184ec621ad4238c674c05.pdf ab90f74705eb3386e2c9789184db3818 PDF Text Text A Shift in Perception From the series: Resurrection Acts 7:54-8:1; I Corinthians 13:1-8; John 20:19-23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 18, 2004, Lent II Transcription of the spoken sermon It is a marvelous way to celebrate Eastertide with a Dance of Creation. It was a goddess of fertility named Oster who gave us the name Easter and the ancient people prior to the Axial Period, 800 to 600 B.C.E., celebrated their religious observances according to the rhythms of nature, the cycles of the year. And so, what a beautiful way for us to celebrate the coming alive of the earth on a beautiful day like this with the flowers budding and the buds bursting, to celebrate the goodness of God in the wonders of creation. Resurrection, as an experience of life after death, was really a conception that came to the fore shortly before the birth of Christ. There isn’t much in the Hebrew Scriptures about any life after death. They don’t even worry about it. The goodness of God in the land of the living was the blessing of God for the people of Israel. But, in those couple of centuries before the birth of Christ, there was increasing persecution, and in the books we call the Apocryphal books, that were filled with apocalyptic expectations, the intervention of God at the end of history, we find resurrection as an idea coming to the fore, and the reason that resurrection came into the consciousness of people was the fact that there were righteous, God-fearing people who were witnessing to their faith in God who were being killed. They were called the righteous martyrs. As the community considered the fact that these people were being killed for their refusal to deny their faith in God, they looked at one another and said, “Must not God in justice vindicate these righteous ones who have died for their faith and their honor of God?” And so, resurrection came to be an idea, a hope, an expectation that somehow or another, in the end, those who had died for their faith would be vindicated by resurrection, by God. When the community of Jesus’ followers, following his crucifixion, experienced him as with them still, when they experienced still after his crucifixion the grace that he conveyed, the love that he embodied, the freedom that he offered, they said, “He is not dead, he’s living.” And from their depression and their fears and their crushed hopes, they had a shift in perception and resurrection is what they called it. Resurrection is a shift in perception. It is a miracle; it is a miracle of © Grand Valley State University �A Shift in Perception Richard A. Rhem Page 2 love. It is an experience of an insight, the gaining of an understanding that is lifechanging, that is life-transforming. Resurrection is a shift in perception. Now, of course, we say today perception is everything and there is something to that, but that’s not what I mean. What that means is that the empirical reality out there isn’t the issue, it is our perception of that empirical reality. I do know the physicists among us would tell us that the observer affects the observed and I’m not going to get into all that philosophical stuff. This is just simply a straightforward claim this morning that a shift in perception, a change in understanding is resurrection, and it is life-changing. It is wonderful. The prison of our tombs, the stones are rolled away, the shackles fall off, the scales fall from our eyes and suddenly we get it, we see it. I think that’s what happened in the experience of those followers of Jesus in the wake of the crucifixion. Although in Luke and in John there certainly are resurrection stories that seem to intentionally want to emphasize a physical, bodily presence, that is not the majority of the resurrection accounts at all. The stories vary widely in the New Testament, as you might expect in the wake of an experience like this. But most of them are appearances, visions, and that’s why I take the stories of Paul this morning. Paul had a shift in perception. We saw him first at the stoning of Stephen. There he is consenting to Stephen’s death, this violent death which is the consequence of a religious absolutism and dogmatism that is threatened by any other understanding that believes somehow or other God is served by that kind of violent reaction. I suppose if it was the 21st century and if it was a part of the already boring and disgusting presidential campaign into which we find ourselves, it might have been Paul standing up and saying, ‘I, Paul of Tarsus, approve of this martyrdom or this killing.” That’s what he was doing. They laid their cloaks at his feet, the story said. And then he is on his way to Damascus, still breathing out threats, ready to murder, ready to haul people into court, to bring them to Jerusalem bound, men and women, those who were followers of the Way, because Paul, this absolutist, this dogmatist, was an angry religious man (There is no anger like religious anger, there is no more obsessive-compulsive behavior than stems from bad religion, and Paul was the epitome of it.). And then there is the light and there is the voice. What’s going on with Paul, how do we know? We could psychologize it all day long. Maybe there was something already simmering in his soul as he watched Stephen die. Maybe there was something in him, some decency in him that would betray the violence of his actions. But, in any case, he’s a broken man and he’s blinded, but then he sees. And after years of assimilation he becomes the Great Apostle who, in the midst of the Corinthian congregation of which he was the founder, in the midst of their own alienation and disturbances and divisions, could write to them of the indispensability of love, describing love in a beautiful fashion such that we call it the hymn of love and read it still with great profit. © Grand Valley State University �A Shift in Perception Richard A. Rhem Page 3 Paul experienced a vision. For him, it was resurrection, and a shift in perception created for him a whole new life. That’s what resurrection is. It is that movement from being all bound up to freedom. It is that movement from defensiveness and stinginess to graciousness and openness. It is the loosening up of all of that which binds us up inside and makes us less than we really want to be. That’s resurrection. It is a shift in perception and it is a miracle. I received an envelope full of goodies from my friend Jim Dykehouse through his mother, Nancy, this week and she said, “Jim gives you these things for you to throw away.” Well, Jim always gives me packages of goodies which he clips down in Chicago, knowing that we live here in the boonies and we don’t get much of that good stuff, so I always look forward to what Jim gives me. One thing I didn’t throw away was a piece from the Chicago Tribune, entitled “The Enlightenment of an Old-School Pol,” and written by Carol Marin. It is the story of Richard Mell. Richard Mell is an Alderman in Chicago; he was an old ward boss. Some of you are too young to remember the days when Chicago was crime-free because it was so corrupt at the top, when Richard J. Daley ruled and the old ward bosses kept everything in tight rein. Richard Mell was one of those. In the 80s he was rather notorious. His picture appeared with him standing on his desk, waving his arms. In 1987, there was an ordinance that was before the Cook County Commissioners asking for the protection of people of homosexual orientation from discrimination. The article reports, ...It was soundly defeated, 30-18. Mell was one of those who voted no. In response, gays in the packed gallery began singing “We Shall Overcome.” You can hear the regret in Mell’s voice as he remembers turning to a colleague and saying, “What in the hell did we just do? This is the worst vote I’ve ever cast and I’ll never do it again.” That vote took place on the eve of Deborah’s 18th birthday and, though Dick Mell didn’t know she was gay, he suspected it. Attractive and sensitive, he says, “she wasn’t interested in boys.” It would take two more years before she could tell him she was a lesbian. In the 90s, Deborah moved to San Francisco where it was easier to be an openly gay person than at home in Chicago. She was gone nine years. Though there were family visits back and forth, Dick Mell talks about “the time we lost with each other - dinners, birthdays, little things.” She moved back home three years ago. You get the sense in talking to the alderman that, now that his daughter is back, he’s not going to let her go or let her down....What Dick Mell has learned is what so many of us have figured out over time. It’s that homosexuality has a name and face....On this point, Dick Mell knows that ordinary people are way ahead of most politicians. And he has his daughter to thank for that, something he did © Grand Valley State University �A Shift in Perception Richard A. Rhem Page 4 last Thursday when he arrived at the police lockup where she was being held. “I was worried he might be angry,” said Deborah. Far from it. “He had a huge smile on his face and hugged me. I started to cry. I think he started to cry. And he told me what a good daughter I am.” A shift in perception is a miracle of love, and it frees us, and that’s resurrection. It doesn’t happen necessarily. One of the, in my estimation, most infamous leaders of the so-called Christian Right is Randall Terry. He’s the head of Operation Rescue which aims at Planned Parenthood, and his inflammatory rhetoric has been responsible for the killings of abortion doctors in clinics. You perhaps have seen him on television. Most inflammatory rhetoric conceivable. In the May issue of Out magazine, coming to the newsstands this week, his son Jameel, 18 years old, writes an article in which he acknowledges that he is gay. Aaron Brown on CNN, one night last week, interviewed Randall Terry who expresses his grief and his pain, but who continues to spout that same hard line of the immorality of homosexuality and of the devastating judgment that will follow its acting out, and so on. At the end of the interview in his own inimitable style, Aaron Brown said, “Mr. Terry, this must be very difficult for you, but let me ask you just one question. In the light of this revelation from your son and his obvious pain, do you at all question some of the rhetoric and the tactics that you have used in the past?” And Randall Terry’s answer in so many words was, “No.” Because Randall Terry would rather be right than loving and peaceful. So, it doesn’t happen automatically. One has to be open to a miracle. As I thought about that, I thought about my own experience. I remember, it must be 30 years ago now, getting a letter from a young man, a letter with pain such as I had never read on paper before, whose spirit was crushed, bruised, because a pastor had rejected him in his homosexuality. And I remember the next most painful letter I ever received, maybe a dozen years ago or so, same thing, only this time the rejection, like Randall Terry, was from a father. And I thought about my own experience, I thought about how fortunate I have been to meet people concretely in their humanity and to come to experience in that diversity, and to come to love them just as they are. I thought about 14-15 years ago, when Rabbi David Hartman came to Muskegon and the Jewish-Christian Dialogue, and this man so full of the love of God, so overflowing with warmth, said, “Do you have to deny my truth to have your truth? Do you have to deny my joy to have your joy?” That was the day he dialogued all day long with Krister Stendahl and those two beautiful human beings, one of the most brilliant and wonderful rabbis in the world and one of the most beautiful New Testament scholars in the world, and I saw them loving each other. Dear God, that’s resurrection, that’s a miracle of love, that’s a shift in perception which has enabled me then to move fully into that arena with joy, with freedom. © Grand Valley State University �A Shift in Perception Richard A. Rhem Page 5 Thanks to Boyd Wilson, our resident professor of World Religions at Hope College, who brought Diana Eck to Hope this past Tuesday. She gave a marvelous lecture. Nancy and I had dinner with her, so we know her, but it wasn’t just that personal relationship. It was just this marvelous lecture in which she painted for us our world as it is. She was not saying our world ought to be this way or that way. She was saying this is the reality with which we live, this pluralistic reality, pluralism in religion, pluralism in peoples of all kinds mixing up in this great global community of which we are a part, like it or not, with all of its implications in every dimension of our life. As I sat there, I listened to her portraying in such a positive way the possibilities of the acceptance of the other and the diversity, not trying to wipe out all differences, but embracing one another and celebrating one another in our respective diversity, I felt so light and I felt so free and I felt so thankful to be able to say “Yes, yes!” Then in the question and answer period, a young man stood up, well-spoken, respectful, who said, “I am an exclusivist.” He made his witness very competently and very respectfully, and I looked at him and I loved him, because I saw in him myself when I was a student at Hope College who would have been threatened to death by this marvelous lecturer, this wonderful woman, wonderful scholar. I knew him, even though he doesn’t know of himself what I know of him, and I project myself onto him, to be sure, but in doing so, I know that there’s a knot in the pit of his stomach. I know that there is a defensiveness that rises within him. I know that there is an anxiety. There is a fear, a fear that has to be raised by the wonder of the stories that were told by this articulate scholar Diana Eck, and I thought of myself and thanked God for the kind of experiences that effect this shift in perception that have been, for me, resurrection. This message is not about pluralism and religion in government, it is not about homosexual orientation or same-sex marriage, it is about a shift in perception, about that thing that puts a knot in your stomach and causes your face to flush and your blood pressure to rise. It’s about those issues, whose button being pushed, you feel yourself uneasy, unsure, causing some of you, perhaps, to strike out vociferously, and others of you simply to slink into the shadows full of unease. This sermon is about you and those things that are unresolved in your heart and your soul. God knows in our world today, polarized as we are about everything, we need to disband our egos long enough to allow the possibility of a shift in perception that can lead us from being bound up to freedom, from anger to peace, from violence to embrace in this global community which is so small that we have to learn how to celebrate one another in all of the diversity. This sermon is an invitation to you to be honest about the things that knot your stomach and mar your spirit and trouble your soul, an invitation to open yourself to a shift in perception which is a miracle of love which could be the first day of the rest of your life. I, Richard Rhem, recommend it. © 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 Eastertide II Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text Acts 7:54-8:1,I Corinthians 13:1-8, John 20:19-23 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-0-20040418 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-04-18 Title A name given to the resource Resurrection: A Shift in Perception Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 18, 2004 entitled "Resurrection: A Shift in Perception", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Eastertide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 7:54-8:1,I Corinthians 13:1-8, John 20:19-23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Love Resurrection https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7798d5a1545857effc5ed86cb46f09af.mp3 5dce5f7e962db67d485737513260ab43 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cbb6c84c3e12ac36d8ade19b9500310d.pdf 25e44c493b2e538915b7e030fa5dd4cd PDF Text Text Of Dreams and Visions Baccalaureate Sunday and Pentecost Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:14-17, Luke 4:16-30 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Memorial Day Weekend, May 30, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon This is one of those full Sundays. We live by three calendars - there is the church calendar, and on that calendar, this is the day of Pentecost. But, we also live by a national calendar, and on the national calendar, this is the weekend of Memorial Day. And we have a community calendar, and for Spring Lake it is graduation day, last week it was Grand Haven’s. I don’t know about Fruitport or West Michigan Christian, but it is the time, at least, of commencement, and so at Christ Community, it is the celebration of Baccalaureate. As we thought about that, we realized that it was just too much to handle on any one Sunday and so our new pastor, Ian Lawton, was moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim next Sunday Pentecost. We will have a grand Pentecost festival and I trust you will all wear red. Because it is Baccalaureate, and I happen to have two granddaughters graduating, as well as a grandson from another university, that is Michigan State, Ian very graciously offered the pulpit to me today so that I could get in a last word, as it were. As a matter of fact, as I thought about it, the themes of Memorial Day and Baccalaureate for me came together very easily, and I even found a biblical text with a Pentecost flavor. When you’ve been preaching as long as I have, you can twist almost anything to say almost anything, and so with great skill, I have woven Pentecost passages into a Baccalaureate challenge as we remember Memorial Day. Some of us here viewed recently in this place a documentary film entitled “The Fog of War.” The title itself speaks volumes - The Fog of War. The ambiguity of the human situation, the confusion and turbulence, and the fact that we often make tragic judgments that lead to horrific consequences. I’m not going to speak about that film this morning, but it is that documentary of the years of Robert McNamara who was Secretary of Defense during the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam conflict. I mention it because he is now 85, and as he looks into the camera, he says, “I’m 85, I’ve lived a long time and I’ve learned some things.” And © Grand Valley State University   �Of Dreams and Visions Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I thought that’s really a good excuse for my Baccalaureate sermon. I’m an old man and I found a text about old men. “Old men will dream dreams,” the prophet Joel said and the Apostle Peter repeated. Old men will dream dreams and young men and women will see visions, and so very simply, as the rest of you listen in, although I trust there’s a word for us all, this morning is about an old man’s dream to inspire young men and women to become all that they can become in this critical moment in our world’s history. I did take the text from Joel, the Hebrew prophet. The prophets had a magnificent dream. We call it a Messianic Kingdom that they imaged, and Messiah is the Hebrew word for anointing, the anointing of the Spirit of God. The Hebrew prophets had this magnificent dream. It comes to expression in so many different ways in the writings of the prophets. It is a dream of nature in harmony, when the lion and the lamb lie down together. (I think it was Woody Allen who said, “When the lion and the lamb lie down together, the lion will sleep more soundly than the lamb.”) Nonetheless, you get the picture - the lion and the lamb bespeaking a peacefulness in the kingdom of creation where there is no longer violence or fear. And the prophet speaks of that day when they will not hurt or destroy on all God’s holy mountain. The prophet Isaiah followed by Micah and Joel pick up that promise of a time when the Spirit of God will judge among the nations and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And Micah speaks of that time when all of the nations will walk before their own God and Israel will walk before the Lord God, and every man and woman shall dwell safely under their own fig tree. Those pictures of a peaceable kingdom, pictures, images of a world that is in harmony between God and nature, nature and nature, nations and nations, people and people, is a dream. It’s a magnificent dream. It is an ancient dream. That dream is between 2500 and almost 3000 years old. It’s not something that we dreamed up recently because things have unraveled for us. It’s a dream that has rested intuitively in the human heart throughout the ages, from the time that the human became human, and probably began to recognize that the kind of tribalism that put everybody in peril at all times was an impossible way to live. The time when the human consciousness began to realize intuitively that there was an alternative way to be other than the way of violence and war and death and destruction. A marvelous dream of the prophets - no exploitation. You would plant a garden and eat the produce thereof. You would build a house and be able to dwell in it, not fearing that some bulldozer would knock it down. Throughout those prophetic books, you can read over and over again that sense of an alternative world, another possibility, of a community at peace. Of course, the prophets dreamed of a world like that in terms of a God who was in control. They dreamed of a world in which eventually that God would act powerfully in the midst of history. They imaged a God who was outside of the whole created © Grand Valley State University �Of Dreams and Visions Richard A. Rhem Page 3   order, the God who had called it into being, the God who still continued to guide and direct and control, the God who was the sovereign Lord of history, the God who would bring about eventually the end of time. Well, the fullness of time saw the birth of Jesus and the community that gathered around Jesus saw in him the embodiment of that dream, they saw the enfleshment of that dream of a different kind of a world. Jesus in the days of his flesh, called people to love their enemies, to do good to those that persecuted them. Jesus overcame the conventional wisdom of the day. Jesus broke down barriers, he spoke to women, he greeted the Samaritan, he refused to be crammed into that dye cast of prejudice and dogma and ancient feuds. They looked at Jesus and they said, “This is the one.” Whether Jesus preached that sermon in Nazareth or not, I don’t know, but when Luke paints the portrait of Jesus, he paints a portrait of Jesus coming to his hometown and saying, “Now, look, this is the time. The prophecy of Isaiah of that day when the Spirit of God will be poured out and captives will be set free, the blind caused to see and the lame to walk, the favorable year of the Lord, that’s now. It’s fulfilled in me.” And, of course, such a claim ran into that conventional wisdom and that age-old prejudice of the day, because Jesus dared to suggest that the grace of God was broader than the river of Israel. Jesus used examples of the grace of God that overflowed banks of Israel and embraced all people. They wanted to kill him for it. There is a latent anger in the human heart when those prejudices are tapped, when conventional wisdom is challenged. Nonetheless, in the embodiment of his visions and values, Jesus was one who was followed and the community gathered around him such that in the wake of his death and resurrection, on the day of Pentecost, Peter would stand up and say, “Look, this is what it is. This is that realization of that dream. This is the pouring out of the Spirit of God that will usher in that New Age.” The mistake that the Church made was to see that embodiment of the dream in Jesus as a one-time event. And so, the community following Jesus, instead of recognizing that now into the creative process the Spirit of God had emerged into that kind of humanity which was the calling of all, set Jesus apart as one and only, as unique. But, as a matter of fact, Jesus was the embodiment of that ancient dream. He dreamed it himself, he lived it out, and while we do not have that God “out there” to come in and fix things for us, what we have learned is that God is in us, that God is that creative process that is moving this whole cosmic journey along, and that that ancient dream in the human heart of a world at peace and harmony is a dream now that must be realized, not by some returning judge from beyond the earth, but must be realized by the likes of us, you. That’s my word to you today, a call from an old man who is a dreamer, for you to dream the impossible dream, and the impossible dream is a dream of a world without war. © Grand Valley State University �Of Dreams and Visions Richard A. Rhem Page 4   This is Memorial Day weekend, and yesterday there was dedicated a grand memorial to the veterans of World War II. Perhaps you caught it on the television screen, old, aged veterans now with canes, wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, many of them weeping as they remembered, as some of you would weep even now as you think about those days in mid-twentieth century when the whole world was in crisis and conflict. en years ago some of us visited Normandy Beach, looked at the bluffs that had to be scaled, where our troops were sitting pigeons. We watched the calm, undulating sea that on June 6, 1944 ran red with blood. It is a moving experience, and in those moments one senses something holy and sacred, and out of the chaos of that Second World War, there emerged the realization among our leaders that we could no longer afford war among nations, and there was a vision and a dream of a United Nations in which the conflict between peoples would be solved through discussion and conversation and compromise, empathic understanding and the yielding in order that there might be finally peace on earth. Now, some decades later, we find that the dream is still not realized and even the vision of a United Nations has taken a serious blow, not through any foreign power, but through the miscalculation and misjudgment, the manipulation and coercion of our own government and leaders. I want to say to you young people today the world has reached a point where we can no longer tolerate war. It was one thing when one tribe took off against another tribe. It was one thing when the world was younger and a whole village could be decimated or a whole region. But, planet earth spun on its way and most people had no knowledge of it. Do you know that half of the people who have ever lived are living today? We have come to a point ... Mike Ackerson with your national championship in the Science Olympiad, you could devise a means by which this planet could be destroyed. We have it in our hands. We have it in our power. When I say we could no longer tolerate war, that is not just idle idealism, nor is it fluffy romanticism. It is the most hard-headed realism with which I can confront you, for if we do not change course, if we do not recognize the error of the myth of redemptive violence, that is that violence finally can achieve peace, we will come to a crisis which will get out of our hand. What’s happening in Saudi Arabia as we worship this morning? Can you not imagine the scenario which would throw the whole globe into conflict? You see, we had an opportunity in 9/11 for a wake-up call. It was a wake-up call which should have been followed by the kind of police action which would have sought to bring to justice those who perpetrated the atrocity. But, the wake-up call should have been to us who are the most powerful, affluent people in the world to © Grand Valley State University �Of Dreams and Visions Richard A. Rhem Page 5   recognize that we can never be secure until the globe is secure, because we have become a global family, a global community, a global neighborhood. We should have awakened to the fact that there are those who are humiliated, hopeless, having nothing to lose, and we should have recognized that wherever there are people who have nothing to lose, the world is a dangerous place. We should have recognized that it was time to sit down with all earth’s children and recognize the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, those who have everything and those who have nothing, and it was time to effect the ancient dream where everyone could plant their own garden and eat the produce, build their own house and dwell in it, have the dignity of human existence. With all of the power and all of the resources that we have, if only we had not dreamed dreams of empire and concocted strategies by which we might maintain our dominance. But, if only we had learned from the one who stood up in Nazareth to say “Today the scripture is fulfilled in your presence.” If only we had learned that it is only in dying that one comes to life, that it is only in giving one’s life away that life can be possessed, that it is only in being willing to die that one can live. If only we had learned the lesson of Jesus who said God causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and the rain to rain on the good and the evil. If only we had recognized that we are members of one human family, that we are the human family through whom God, the Spirit, is emerging, that we look not “out there” somewhere for someone to come in and make it all happen, but rather, the God who is within us would, through us, who embodied the dream, realize an alternative world, a world at peace. I call you young people to dream the impossible dream, to march into hell if need be for a heavenly cause. In your insert there are the words of “The Impossible Dream,” and under it a little statement from William of Orange who was the liberator of the Netherlands back in the 16th century, who said, in effect, “You don’t need hope to undertake an enterprise, and you don’t need success to persevere.” There’s something so strong about that, something so good about that. Oh, I want you to be kids. I want you to have a ball. I want you to have fun. I want you to celebrate. But, I want you to have a vision beyond all of that. I want you to have a vision of an alternative world which may seem like an impossible dream and, in light of the history that has been written to this moment, you might say it’s hopeless. But, William of Orange said you don’t need hope to undertake the enterprise. You undertake the enterprise because it’s right. You undertake the enterprise because it’s true. You undertake the enterprise because it is imperative if there is to be a human future, if the creative process is to continue, if the human story is to move into all that it can possibly be. You don’t need hope. You simply have to believe it. And you don’t need success. You just need a dogged perseverance. Never give it up. © Grand Valley State University �Of Dreams and Visions Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I would say to you this morning, think critically. Back one hundred years ago, when I was where you are, nobody said to me think critically. They said think traditionally. I want to say to you, think critically. Don’t believe your President; don’t believe your political leaders; don’t believe your teachers; don’t believe your parents. (I make an exception for grandparents.) Don’t believe them without filtering what they say and what they teach through the filter of your own mind and heart. Believe that God is in you, the Light is in you, trust that intuitive sense within you that things can be other than they are. Refuse to live by conventional wisdom. Reject the prejudices that we adults have placed upon you. Follow Jesus. We here have achieved something. I think again of how narrow has been my focus, trying to create an alternative to church as usual, and I think we have, and I think it’s good. But, I want to say to you - that’s too narrow. We need to think about an alternative world and a global community which is a neighborhood filled with every race and every creed and every idiosyncracy with the Spirit of God. I hope that it doesn’t take you as long to wake up as it took me. The best I can do is, as an old man, to dream a dream in the hopes that there’s a vision that will catch on fire in you. You are really terrific. You can change the world. God bless you. Go for it! © 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 Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:14-17, Luke 4:16-30 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-0-20040530 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-05-30 Title A name given to the resource Of Dreams and Visions Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 30, 2004 entitled "Of Dreams and Visions", on the occasion of Baccalaureate Sunday, Eastertide VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:14-17, Luke 4:16-30. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Global Community Global Peace Pentecost https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8b037cc63cc87bc75a589caf064d8051.mp3 ec6343b2dc2c8b2408975a4f471c1951 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ce95ff200c70b9ce72fb9aee512e59d.pdf c32ee24dd54713a908bc462ec9e71a63 PDF Text Text Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent The Littlefair Legacy, A Center for Religion and Life Weekend Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan October 10, 2004 Transcription of the spoken sermon It is a pleasure to sit here once again in your midst, although, in getting ready for this moment, I realized why I retired. We've had a great weekend. Friday night was a party at Duba's Restaurant, where else? And it was a wonderful, celebrative remembering, telling Duncan stories. Yesterday, Dr. Gary Dorrien of Kalamazoo College, gave two fine lectures, the one about the Chicago School which had a shaping influence on Duncan, and then one addressing more the contemporary situation in a manner in which Duncan would have been proud. Now, of course, this morning, and the session following when we will continue to talk about the Littlefair Legacy. This has been a weekend sponsored by The Center for Religion and Life which cannot really be separated from this community of faith, and the question might be raised - why are you doing this? I thought perhaps I ought to begin by saying that we are doing it because we want to keep alive the voice and the spirit of Duncan Littlefair who made such a great impact on this whole area, particularly the Fountain Street Church community that he shaped and formed over some six decades, being a part of it as pastor and pastor emeritus, and the area far beyond. But we do it too because, more lately, he became a shaping influence in this community through an intimate friendship developed between us, he becoming for me as one born out of due time, a mentor in my elderdom, a time when perhaps I should have had it all figured out. But I continued to find new horizons opened, particularly by the scintillating mind and passion of Duncan Littlefair. If he were here on this weekend, he would say, "What's all the fuss?" Dr. Lubbers mentioned that at his party Friday evening. What is this all about? I never knew anyone quite like Duncan, who had an unusual giftedness, brilliance, charisma, force of personality, who was, at the same time, so unconcerned about self-promotion and would not at all have been happy to be the center of this kind of celebrative weekend. Yet, down deep I think he knew that, while he never had it within himself to promote himself or in any way to perpetuate that which he had shaped and created, nonetheless he was not unaware of the value of it. From time to time I had conversations with him about © Grand Valley State University   �Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent Richard A. Rhem Page 2   finding some way to keep that voice and that spirit alive, and he was open to that. I think he would be pleased that there are those of us who are concerned to perpetuate the power and the influence of the religious embodiment that he represented in our midst. We do it here simply because he had come here so often to worship and loved this place, and in many ways, cast his mantle upon me. He was present with us when we brought Ian here for the first time and he was fascinated by Ian and so hopeful and confident for the future of this place with the leadership of him. One of the goals that we have in a weekend like this, with the lectures yesterday by Dr. Dorrien being what we touted as the first annual Littlefair Lectures, is to establish an annual lectureship, an annual Littlefair Lectureship that will keep alive that vision and that voice and that spirit of Duncan Littlefair, an endowed lectureship that annually can bring an outstanding scholar on the cutting edge of religious thought and study into the West Michigan area, that we might be reminded every fall or whenever it would occur, that we have had in our midst one of the greatest religious thinkers and leaders of his generation. It is my hope that such a thing will be established, perhaps with an endowment at Grand Valley State University, and then a directorship from Grand Valley and from Fountain Street Church where Duncan labored all those years, and from Christ Community. I have met with Dr. Lubbers who will be with us in the hour following, and former Mayor of Grand Rapids John Logie from Fountain Street Church, and we are working on this and do hope to bring it into reality. But, why all the fuss? What's it all about? And I want to say that we have had a gift in our midst which ought not to be forgotten or not ever to be taken for granted. We have experienced this gift and can relate to the positive value, the impact of that life and, thus, I think that it is incumbent upon us to do what we can in order to keep that spirit alive. Duncan Littlefair was for decades known as the “Voice of the Liberal” in Western Michigan, a bastion of conservative, evangelical orthodoxy. He was not unaware of the fact that the whole conservative community saw him as a threat, suspected him, and called him by the nickname Dr. Littlefaith. He would simply smile about that. But the very fact that everyone seemed to be aware of him and threatened by him and would denigrate him by such a name as Littlefaith was indicative of the fact that, in this area, he was having an impact far beyond the community in which he was carrying on his ministry. To have met this man and to come to know him was to come to experience religion in all of its fullness, in all of its beauty and all of its positive power. For me, it is a most remarkable fact of my life, a life that has been given wholly over to engagement with the religious quest and the religious task, one who was warped from the womb to be religious, one who was educated for religious ministry and leadership, one who has done it seriously and responsibly with all of my being, it is most remarkable to me that I should have come in the latter © Grand Valley State University �Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent Richard A. Rhem Page 3   decade of my life to encounter one who embodied religion that caused me to be "born again," even though I had engaged positively and I think fruitfully in the religious quest and the religious life. But, I suppose, to be honest, I was one for whom religion had also been task and burden. And then to come to encounter one who embodied a religion that was the very poetry of life, that brought forth the deep inner resources of life, one who lived a religious life that enabled him to be fully human and to bring the aroma of humaneness to all of those whom he met was quite amazing. When I met Duncan Littlefair, my life was changed. It was good religion. It was religion that drew from the depths of reality, bringing to expression in a magnificent manner the highest possibility of being human. The toast at Duba's is famous now. Lifting our glasses around that table, "To the wonder, the miracle, the glory and the joy of life." And that was more than a toast. For Duncan, it was a way of life, and to be in his presence and to come to know him in intimate friendship was to be transformed and changed. I was conscious of it happening. I was conscious of the consciousness with which I began to live humanly when I came to the encounter with this man. Good religion is passionate. So much of the religious story, so much of the Christian tradition story, of which we have been a part, is a story of a very serious and magnificent religious vision. The whole biblical story born in Israel and coming to full expression in the event of Jesus Christ and the whole grand tradition of the Church - all of that has been a passionate, human adventure and experience. But, that whole tradition came to its expression in a world, in a time, in an age before the modern period with the explosion of knowledge and our scientific understanding of the whole cosmic reality. So, what we have inherited, what has shaped us, our prayers, our liturgies, our hymns, our sacraments, our manner of devotion - all of that derives from a worldview that has been dissolved by the application of modern science. That in which we have been nurtured is reflective of a conception of reality, of a world that is dissolved by the advance of modern knowledge. And so, we live a bifurcated existence and, if we are aware, if we are conscious, there is a dissonance between the practice, the Sunday worship with the forms and the structures that had been given to us and the way we live the rest of the week, with all of the knowledge that we have of this unfolding cosmic drama. In the ongoing life of the church there have been those who have tried to take seriously the eruption of human knowledge and accommodate the tradition with our present reality. What happens so often is that, before that advance of knowledge in our world today, the religious faith, the belief system, etc. has been reduced and reduced and reduced. Take away this, take away that, give up miracles, give up prayer, give up whatever, bring it down as far as you can, but hold on to the biblical worldview, out of custom or fear or superstition, all while a modern world with all of the knowledge is cascading down upon us. The liberal theological movement tried to lessen the dissonance by reducing the core of the faith. But, what has often resulted is an anemic religious experience, believing a © Grand Valley State University �Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent Richard A. Rhem Page 4   little less, believing a little less passionately, but knowing the real world is a world that is being opened up to us by the continuing research and probing of the sciences in all of the human disciplines, calling the old faith into question. That wasn't true of Duncan. Duncan had a robust religious experience. As I said in his memorial service, the man was drunk with God. He was intoxicated with the Holy and the Sacred, and to be in his presence was to be in the presence of a human being that was filled with religious awe and wonder. It was shocking to me. I, who had been prejudiced with the rest of Western Michigan to think of this humanist, this naturalist as one who must be religiously barren, to find one who was so passionately religious in the spiritual quest, to whom the toast "To the wonder, miracle and joy of life" was the center, core and creed of his faith. It was contagious. To see him stand in awe of the flower, of a blade of grass, of a leaf turned golden in autumn, to see the joy in his countenance as he sat in his old wooden rocker by a crackling fire on a dreary, gloomy day, delighting in the heavy, gray clouds; one who looked you in the eye with penetrating eyes and loved conversation, and at our Duba's table would insist on one conversation with everybody at full attention at all times. This was a human being that was the very embodiment of everything that is divine, and I stood amazed. For me that heavy obligation of religion, that burdensome aspect of religion, that controlling, threatening, condemning dimension of religion, that religious tradition which had weighed heavily upon me, which I had been working at all of my life to resolve, suddenly fell away before the beauty of a human being who was the very incarnation of God. There was no sacrifice of the mind or the intelligence. There was the eager and ready exploration of every facet of human knowledge, of probing of the depths of every question, the welcoming of every little piece of data, the delight at every favorite theory and canon of science that got overthrown by more exploration and further experimentation in the revelation of new data. The mind was fully free to soar into all of the realms of human understanding, never a threat, always an increase in wonder and awe, because religion for Duncan was not some creedal formulation, not some set of propositions, not some truths deduced from this Bible storybook. Religion for Duncan was not some canon law of the institutional church or the favorite formulations of an ancient tradition for, as my good friend Lester always was fully aware, knowing it in Duncan and, to his distress seeing it happening in me, finally there is no authority beyond the authority that arises from within one fully cognizant of the totality of the possibility of human understanding. And then reveling in life …not some kind of abject bowing before some supernatural deity out there, but indeed, as he contended, the whole cosmic process was coming to expression in the likes of us, the emanation of God from the creative center, that ultimate Mystery of Being. I love the quote read a moment ago. Can't you hear Duncan preaching it? It's typical preacher's talk. It’s © Grand Valley State University �Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent Richard A. Rhem Page 5   not carefully honed rhetoric. It's not carefully, philosophically expressed. It's the kind of pulpit talk where the preacher begins to foam at the mouth because there's something within him that will come to expression. We are the intrusions, we are the extrusions. What are we - intrusions or extrusions? One pushes in, the other pushes out. We are illustrations, we are examples, we are God! For God's sake, we are God! It's amazing. There isn't anything beyond, you see? But, the beyond has come to expression in the concrete, the infinite in the finite, and we, the finite concretization of that Infinite Mystery, have that longing again for the Mystery. It's a longing to go home. And so, in our very naturalness, we're the ultimate expression of that which is Sacred and Holy, that one reality of which we are a part, that one tapestry into which our existence is woven. We are the consciousness, the voice, the storytellers of that unfolding of God in the one reality. Passionate, intelligent, Duncan loved Paul. Of course, he had no time for Paul's eschatology, the end of the world; he had no time for Paul seeing Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. He would say, "Well, Paul couldn't help himself. Look where he was coming from." But, he loved Paul because Paul had passion. He loved Paul. Couldn't you see Duncan just like Paul going right into the Areopagus in Athens, right to the heart of the philosophical center of the ancient world? Can't you see Duncan going there and looking those greybeards in the eye and saying to them, "Haven't you heard the latest?" Paul had a vision, Paul had a passion, Paul was delivered from the burden of religion. Paul was delivered from all of that striving, all of that load of guilt. Paul was released by grace in his encounter with Jesus Christ in that vision he had, and he wanted to tell the whole world about it. Duncan loved that about Paul. Duncan loved anybody that was passionate about something, somebody that believed something and wanted to move the whole world. Good religion is not some anemic non-controversial pablum fed to weak people who are afraid. Good religion is robust, full of passion, and it has an open mind to probe to the depths with all of the possibility and potential of human understanding. Why should we keep that alive? It would be a dereliction of our duty if we should allow that which we have had in our midst to fade from memory and fail ourselves and our larger community the opportunity of exposure to that beautiful, passionate intelligent quest for God in that one drunk with God. He was the embodiment of religion that makes the human 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 Center for Religion and Life Weekend Series The Littlefair Legacy 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-0-20041010 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-10-10 Title A name given to the resource Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent 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 10, 2004 entitled "Good Religion: Passionate and Intelligent", as part of the series "The Littlefair Legacy", on the occasion of Center for Religion and Life Weekend, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Duncan Littlefair Fountain Street Church https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/60ae0bd1ae1c2ecd69dac1069f501518.pdf 46980a4d275f01e595c50b262aecad75 PDF Text Text Love That Just Won’t Give Up Easter Sunday Luke 24:13-17, 28-35; I John 1:1-4; 4:7-8; 12, 16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 27, 2005 Easter 2005. Who would have dreamed I would be the preacher! Ian called a couple of weeks ago and asked if I would be willing to be the preacher for Easter, and I responded that I would be happy to be. He honors me thus and demonstrates his trust in me; I am grateful for that. Reflecting back over the year, I went to my file of liturgies, as well as my daily calendar. If my notes are correct, the Lawtons arrived on March 22 a year ago. On March 28, which last year was the Fifth Sunday in Lent, I read a note of greeting and gratitude from Ian, promising to be present the next week which was Palm Sunday, April 4. And on Easter, April 11, Ian preached his first sermon here. This invitation to preach at the end of Ian’s first year with us provides an occasion to look back over that year – not that that was Ian’s intention; nor do I intend to use the Easter sermon as a backward glance. Resurrection opens the future and I intend to get to that. But, I cannot pass up this opportunity to make a comment or two. Many ask how I like retirement. My answer: I recommend it! I am delighted to be at this time in my life. The time was right; you created such a beautiful closure. I’m so content and, honestly, proud of the community I, with the team and lay leadership, was able to create, that I have no regrets. And I have let go. Some doubted I could. I knew I could and would and I have. The transition has happened. Transitions are not for the faint-hearted. Nobody said it would be easy. We had it so good for so long – 33 years! – and we were so comfortable. But I knew it was time to catch the next wave and move this community to the next stage. This was the challenge we laid before Ian and I cannot imagine anyone coming in and doing it with greater courage and confidence, intelligence and passion than Ian has. One realizes in such a transition there will be change but, of course, to know that intellectually is one thing; to feel it emotionally is another. Faced with the emotional shock, one must choose between trying to exercise power to hold on, hold back, resist the new movement and control the development, or, recognizing © Grand Valley State University   �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the inevitability of change, and indeed the necessity of it, open one’s being to the creative interchange that is occurring and trust the process in community to effect creative transformation. I sense most of us are following the second option and that is hopeful. Last Sunday, Nancy and I remained for the Sermon Talk-back and many expressions were offered which reminded me of similar settings we experienced over the years and similar comments – for example: “I can bring my family and friends here and know they will not be embarrassed;” and, “This is the first church I have been able to feel at home in.” There were expressions, too, of love for and emotional attachment to the tradition; beloved symbols and rituals which move the heart and reach the depths of our beings. I saw Ian listening, taking it in, and I’m sure desiring to continue to bridge past to future with sensitivity and care. And it is happening. Lent has been for me once more a meaningful journey. The preaching has been strong and full of integrity. I am so thankful that there continues to be in this place honest and intelligent preaching that engages me. I know there are some of you for whom the transition has not been comfortable, causing dis-ease and discontent. But, I must say honestly to you I believe that is the result more of style, not substance. I’ll probably never forgive Ian for that metal bed frame hanging over my head, messing up the aesthetics of my sacred space! But, so what? That doesn’t matter. While in Florida, Nancy and I spent our annual evening with the VanHoeven clan: Gord and Dorothy, Doc and Shirley and Gord’s brother Jim and his wife, Mary. After a fabulous fish fry which Doc prepared, we watched a bit of the Christmas Sunday service at which Ian’s father preached, which they had on a DVD. I was really impressed; it was professionally produced and well done and I suspect one of these days folks around the globe will be able to experience the Sunday service from Christ Community – and, God knows, such an alternative the world desperately needs. The title of my sermon is “Love That Just Won’t Give Up.” Ian listed that to be his sermon title before he asked me to preach and I assured him I would stay with that. After all my years of preaching, I am able to twist any text or title to say what I want to say. © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 3   And that title affords me a bridge to my Easter message. Love that just will not give up is a claim that reveals the grain of the universe, that points to the Ultimate Mystery of Reality – and that is what I want to say this morning – Love is the Originating Mystery of the Cosmos and that Love will never give up. The Gospels give us a variety of snapshots of the Easter story – snapshots, incidentally, that cannot be reconciled into a coherent picture. The Easter Gospel this morning from Luke 24, the narrative of the encounter of the risen one with two followers on the Emmaus Road, is my favorite, I suspect because I love the manner in which the revelation of the Easter miracle unfolds. Unrecognized, Jesus joins the disciples and joins their conversation. They are leaving Jerusalem in despair with sadness of heart in the wake of the crucifixion of Jesus. This one unknown reminds them of their scriptures and then, arriving at their home, they invite the stranger in who, though the guest, becomes the host at table and in the blessing and breaking of bread, is revealed as the Living One whose death they had been grieving. Their eyes were opened even as he vanished from their sight and with amazement, they speak of how their sad hearts had become burning hearts and their grief transformed to joy, for they knew Jesus was alive and very much present to them. They rushed to tell their good news to the disciples, exclaiming he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Sadness to joy;Despair to hope, and the deep assurance that the love embodied in their Jesus could not be put to death, the realization that Love just won’t give up. I love Dom Crossan’s comment on the Emmaus story: Emmaus never happened. Emmaus always happens. The Church has struggled so strenuously with the Easter Event – insisting on its historicity – that Jesus did, indeed, rise bodily from the tomb. And in the traditional interpretation of Jesus’ death as an atonement for the sin of the world, I understand that need to insist that he arose from the grave, because that was the sign of sin removed and heaven opened to all who trusted him. The bodily resurrection was God’s sign that salvation had been accomplished for us by him. But, that has not been our understanding of Jesus’ death for a long time. It must have been a dozen years ago that I suggested that Easter was not about the resuscitation of a corpse. And I raised a few eyebrows and, here and there, a fever arose. (You forgive an old man and forget that his radical moves in the past caused you discomfort and confusion.) © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It was Palm Sunday, 1993, when I preached “Jesus Died Because of our Sins, Not For Them.” For years there has been no atoning death preached here – my concise summary statement each Lent has been, “He died the way he died because he lived the way he lived.” And Ian has been preaching that eloquently. Jesus spoke Truth to Power in the best tradition of the Hebrew prophets. He challenged the power of the established Church and State. He came preaching the Kingdom of God, crying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is here.” Repent is the English translation of the Greek word Metanoia, Meta the prefix meaning change, and Noia from Nous, for mind. Change your mind! Change your thinking! Etymologically, Metanoia is the opposite of Paranoia, from which we have paranoia, irrational fear, delusional suspicion. Jesus’ message was, Change your thinking! The old order of domination, oppression and human exploitation is doomed! All too soon the Christian Church domesticated Jesus’ radical social/political claim and turned repentance into a moralistic call to turn from personal sins and peccadilloes. But, Jesus was talking about a different kind of sin – the institutionalized sin of imperial domination that oppressed the people. Believe me, the authorities would have applauded him, not crucified him if he had preached “Keep your nose clean; obey the commandments and piously follow the tradition.” They would have subsidized him, popular as he was – he could sell family values, tax cuts for the wealthy, and the shredding of the social safety net so the poor might be stimulated to move to self-sufficiency. No, Jesus proclaimed an alternative world marked by justice and fairness and compassion. He was judged a menace to established order and marked for death, the death of a social/political subversive. But, that is where the Miracle occurred – On many Emmaus Roads over days and weeks, over months and years, gathered in community, sharing a meal, blessing and breaking bread, his followers sensed his presence and they knew all that had come to expression in him was true – and that truth could not be killed. The love he embodied just would not give up, because it was the reflection of the heart of the Originating Mystery of Being. That was Easter Faith – You can’t prove that, except by living its truth and that was the Easter Miracle: A shift in perception – and it is a shift in perception that transforms. © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Such a shift in perception is the result of a moment of revelatory luminosity; a moment of unveiling of what is always everywhere the case. But, in a moment of disclosure, we see and, seeing, we come to a conscious awareness of a new possibility and we are transformed. And what constitutes that transformation? What are the contours of the transformation effected by the shift in perception Easter brings about? Would it not be a transformation into the likeness of Jesus? Wouldn’t one so transformed take on the mind of Jesus? The heart of Jesus? The agenda of Jesus? Wouldn’t that agenda, now translated into the great issues of Century 21, have some strong words about corporate corruption, about the unconscionable increase in CEO salaries when wages of the average worker have decreased? Have something to say about the Imperial Designs of this nation, even though woven with idealism? Raise questions about the dismantling of the social safety net and the re-distribution of wealth upward? Wonder about health care and education and the cities that face massive deficits? The historical Jesus and the early Jesus Movement were too soon co-opted by the powers that be. Jesus was made into a Savior figure. The Cross, instead of being a sign of the death that results from speaking truth to power, was made into a symbol of salvation from sin and damnation and the Christian Church became a salvation cult. All of this is old news here. But, with each returning Lent I wonder anew if we can really follow Jesus or are so locked into a social structure so at odds with his agenda that it would take a revolution to give the way of Jesus a chance. I’ve been out of step all my life. I kid about it, but I am serious. Growing up in a wonderful home with all the love and security one could ask for, it was a very conservative religious and political environment – totally authentic and sincere. Religiously, as a child, I thought salvation would be limited to a narrow range of Christians – which certainly did not include Roman Catholics. You get the picture. The liberal Methodists in my little village were also out of luck, or beyond the pale. There was no “luck” involved. Politically, the only option for a Christian was to be Republican. My first awareness of the political scene was the Presidential election of 1944. As a child of nine, I sensed FDR was the wrong choice. I imbibed real negativity toward him, knowing nothing, of course, and many years later having to recognize how twisted and warped was my estimate of one considered to be one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had. In all of this – my home village, my religious affiliation, my political affiliation, such as it was, I felt in a minority, different, out of step with where the world was going. That only intensified my youthful commitments – didn’t the Gospel quote © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Jesus claiming, The gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to Life and there are few who find it! Steered from the womb to the ministry, I studied and studied and studied. You know that – I tried so hard to support intellectually the nurture and conditioning of my childhood and youth and then the orthodoxy of the Church. I need not belabor this, but I remind you of the path I’ve traveled because I am Exhibit A of one who has undergone a dramatic shift in perception, for me a long process rather than a sudden awakening, but total, nonetheless. And that shift in perception was for me a miracle, a miracle of resurrection and it has been transforming, And it has made me out of step again as surely as I was as a child and youth. The shift came from meeting Jesus again for the first time, as Marcus Borg would say. It was a Palm Sunday, April 15, 1984, when I preached a sermon entitled “Jesus, You Are Really Something!” It was the beginning of an encounter with the humanity of Jesus, disentangling him from the high Christological doctrines that the Church created in those early centuries as they lost the real human being – a loss which turned him into a savior figure, removing from him the prophetic edge that threatened Imperial Rome and got him crucified. As has been characteristic of my journey, the progress was slow, but with each returning Lent I felt more sharply the disparity between the way of Jesus and the way we follow him. Slowly but surely, I knew to follow him would put me out of step again because as I was being sensitized to the practical implications for Christian faith and political commitment, religion and politics in this nation were moving to the right and the contrast with the agenda of Jesus as I have come to understand it grows ever more sharp. And, frankly, it is painful. So much about the political agenda of the nation troubles me; so much about most of the Church embarrasses me. And it is because the shift in perception caused by encountering Jesus in his humanity transformed me, changed me – it was a miracle of resurrection because, you see, the really critical miracle is not some past event, but present transformation through a shift in perception. That is the Easter miracle. Emmaus never happened. Emmaus always happens. Jesus arose in the conscious awareness of those who had been his community. In the love he embodied they met the Ultimate Mystery, the Sacred Mystery which is the final truth in whom we live and move and have our being. © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 7   And that means Love is the Final Truth, Love by which every religious institution, every political agenda, every social program is to be judged, because Love expresses the Grain of the Universe, the Cosmic intention. And Love just will not give up. Love – not sentimental sweetness, but tough, strong, marked by integrity, committed to the well-being of the other, refusing to respond in violence, taking the consequences. Let me be clear; the Love of which I speak, the Love embodied in the flesh of Jesus, in his concrete behavior, is not some sentimental sweetness. It was Love that stood up against injustice, that protested human exploitation by religiopolitical systems and structures, that broke down social-religious barriers that excluded. It was non-violent Love, but not passive; Jesus’ protest was concrete resistance which provoked and elicited reaction. And then, most amazing, a Love that received into itself the lethal consequences without hostile response; indeed, purveying grace and forgiveness to the end. It was such Love concretely lived out that put its stamp on the Jesus community. From one of the early Christian communities we get the Fourth Gospel and the Letters of John. It was the Gospel that told the story of Jesus as “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14) – the central Christian affirmation of Incarnation, Jesus, the human as the embodiment of God. In the First Letter of John that theme is picked up. Listen to the concreteness of the experience: We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. In chapter 4, the writer says it straight out: God is love. And later he writes, No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.…God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. To see that is a shift in perception; it is the Easter miracle; it is transforming. The natural sciences probe the vast expanse of outer space and the amazing mysteries of sub-atomic particles. Cosmology seeks to unravel the secrets of the expanding universe and quantum physics the nature of energy fields in which that universe swims – a Reality marked by chance and necessity, randomness © Grand Valley State University �Love That Just Won’t Give Up Richard A. Rhem Page 8   and order. But, whatever its future unfolding in all its awesome splendor, the Cosmic Process has issued in the likes of us who know in our deepest core that Love is the Grain of the Universe, and that love lived out concretely brings to fullest, richest expression our humanity reaching toward Global Community. Out of step, on the edge of despair at the present abuse of power and failure to protect the weakest members of the human community, I come to Easter; I experience again the Miracle of Resurrection; I know the Ultimate Movement of the Creative Spirit is toward the Light and the concretion of Love – and I believe again. This present darkness will overreach and implode – because Love just won’t give up! A shift in perception – Resurrection, the Easter Miracle – Change your minds! Don’t yield to the darkness; Light will dawn; Love will prevail. That is true as broadly as the cosmos. It is true for the global community. It is true for this community – But I cannot conclude without acknowledging that for some, perhaps for many, the darkness and pain is more personal – where you live with those you love, or those you have lost. Your own hurt is so deep you cannot begin to worry about the global community or the nation or even this community in transition. Perhaps Easter is just too bright; your pain just too deep. Although you cannot take it in, let me nonetheless affirm that the cloud will lift, the darkness dissipate, and healing will ensue because Love just won’t give up. Let this Easter morning be a reassurance for you – Love will never give up. And we will make that love as tangible as this community in its embrace of you. In these moments, open your heart to the new being Love creates, a shift in perception; the Easter Miracle which is transforming. And finally, know that All will be well, All will be well All manner of things will be well. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Easter Scripture Text Luke 24:13-17, 28-35, I John 1:1-4, 4:7-8, 12, 16 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-0-20050327 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-03-27 Title A name given to the resource Love That Just Won't Give Up Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 27, 2005 entitled "Love That Just Won't Give Up", on the occasion of Easter, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 24:13-17, 28-35, I John 1:1-4, 4:7-8, 12, 16. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Easter Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bce7b21efd31010267de1b0949310078.mp3 bbb35eb6020655876fbcfb4de6ab0a9f 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. 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-0-20050821 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-08-21 Title A name given to the resource Arrogant Claim & Impossible Demand - The Peril of 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 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 August 21, 2005 entitled "Arrogant Claim & Impossible Demand - The Peril of Religion", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives personal journey Religious Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a1538acda4e7feab9dd8bfb95525d923.mp3 e84c8740e522541c21d685bdee6c5f58 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. Scripture Text Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, John 3:1-10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20050828 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005-08-28 Title A name given to the resource A Shared Yearning & Journey - The Religious Quest 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 August 28, 2005 entitled "A Shared Yearning & Journey - The Religious Quest", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, John 3:1-10. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives personal journey Religious Quest