792 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30b1e68986db9f35cd76ddaff5337336.pdf c8f118fc1a672f1a000c0b2bfe037893 PDF Text Text Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh Ordination Service for Bill Freeman Micah 6:6-8; I Corinthians 13; John 1:1-5,14,18 Richard A. Rhem First Congregational United Church of Christ Belding, Michigan May 7, 2006 Transcription of the spoken sermon 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. I John 4:12, 16 I am deeply honored to have been invited to preach Bill Freeman's ordination sermon. That Bill should have asked me is especially gracious and remarkable because, if he had listened to me about five years ago, we would not be gathered here to witness his ordination. I told him not to pursue the ministry. For a decade or so, I was a member of a Tuesday conversation that gathered at a little round table in a corner of Duba's bar. The center of the conversation was the incomparable Dr. Duncan Littlefair, whose penetrating mind kept us engaged in stimulating conversation. One day he said to me, "There is a guy who has hung around Fountain Street Church named Bill Freeman. He is thinking about the ministry and I don't think it's a good idea, but I told him to talk to you." Well, this story moves around interesting times and places. A grand tradition each Friday before Christmas was a Christmas party at the Littlefair home. The choir, old and new, gathers and there is a wonderful Carol Sing preceded by good food and drink and social engagement. You don't really need an invitation; you just show up. It must have been about five or six Christmases past at Duncan's gala that Bill got hold of me and we found a narrow alcove where we could talk. He told me of his desire to enter the ministry - the feeling that this was something he felt compelled to do. I asked him why. I told him he had and was still making a difference through his media and communication skills. I suggested there were better ways for a person in his mid-40s to be involved in significant movements than going back to seminary and jumping through the hoops the institutional Church sets up for those who would become ministers of the Word. And I tried to scare him out of the idea. To be sure, I was one of the lucky ones - a great congregation, a wonderful experience of over three decades. But, I told him of all the pain I saw in congregations and in pastors. I told him bluntly - it is a © Grand Valley State University �Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh Richard A. Rhem Page 2 tough business. This is not a good time for mainline churches or for pastors who would approach their task with critical intelligence and a liberal and open spirit Bill listened attentively and then went on with his intention as if we had never spoken. And I'm glad he did. In ensuing encounters, both Dr. Littlefair and I became believers. This was not just some restless guy looking around for some new path to follow; no, this was a man yielding to an inner calling that was compelling him forward. Eventually, we said to him, "You have to do it!" He has, and here we are today - his seminary diploma and United Church of Christ credentials in hand, and he will be ordained in the midst of a congregation that, in extending to him the Call to be their pastor, has confirmed that inward call that he felt five years ago. Bill, I'm delighted you did not listen to me. I now know what you strongly suspected back then - there was something stirring in your life that was of the Spirit of God. The call of God is a mystery, but we know it when we see it. In you, we see it. I have entitled my ordination sermon "Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh." "Seeing is believing" is a common phrase employed when a claim is made that is questionable. Another way to express one's doubt might be, "Show me," or "Prove it." Using this phrase, I'm thinking about the Church. I'm thinking specifically about the Congregational Church in Belding and I'm thinking, too, about your ministry, Bill. You may have a well-honed Mission Statement. There are confessional statements that have formed the United Church of Christ, and, of course, the whole Christian movement has been shaped by Scripture and the ancient ecumenical creeds that affirm the truth claims of the Christian Church. But finally what really matters is the concrete life of this community and what is really critical for the execution of your ministry is the Word becoming flesh. There is a great theological tradition that reverses my claim. None less than the great St. Augustine and St. Anselm put it the other way around and you may recognize the Latin. St Augustine said, "Credo ut intelligam" - "I believe that I might understand," and Anselm's phrase was "Fides Quaerens Intellectum" "Faith in search of understanding." Stated popularly, believe it and you will understand eventually. In this case, faith precedes reason; if you believe, you will come to see. There has been a great philosophical/theological discussion down through the centuries and, frankly, I have loved being immersed in that conversation; I do not denigrate it. But, we live in a day that has seen the upheaval of the great theological systems and a challenge to all the great religious absolutisms in the respective world religious traditions. To continue simply to make claims with the counsel that if only one will believe, one will see and will understand is a losing enterprise. © Grand Valley State University �Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh Richard A. Rhem Page 3 Thus, Bill, on this your day of ordination, and Congregation, on this occasion of the ordination of your new pastor, let me suggest that you will share a fruitful future as the Word becomes Flesh here and Belding sees and believes, believe that God's Spirit is in your midst and the grace of Jesus Christ is being lived out in your shared life. Let me root that claim in what I believe to be the central claim of the Christian faith as it came to expression in the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel that emerged from the Johannine community from which we also have the Letters of John. My text is from First John 4:12 and 16. 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. No one has ever seen God. That clear acknowledgment comes right out of the Gospel; you will find it in 1:18. And that acknowledgment also points to the deepest yearning of the human heart — to see God or to have one's life touched by God, by the deep Mystery of our existence. In John 14 we read that familiar statement of Jesus, "I am the way, the truth and the life ..." and then Jesus says, "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him," to which Philip responds, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied." Have we not all at some time expressed that wistful longing of Philip -just show us! If only we could see, really see and know! And then Jesus comes back with that audacious claim, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." I am convinced this is the central core of John's Gospel. In the Prologue to the Gospel, 1:1-18, we have the theme set forth. The opening words remind us of the Creation Story - "In the beginning was the Word ..." and someone has translated that "In the beginning was the Divine Intention." And then in 1:14, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us ..." or the Divine Intention became flesh. That, of course, is that marvelous statement of the Incarnation - God become Human, for "Flesh" is synonymous with human. Now, move to 1:18; there we have the acknowledgement we have already noted in I John 4:12- "No one has ever seen God." and now the writer goes on to express the incarnation in other words, "It is God the only son, who has made him known." And here again it is possible to translate the text in a most revealing way; the claim is that Jesus is “the exegesis of God." I must point this out because Bill has just graduated from seminary where he learned the art of exegesis, that is, the art of interpreting the text — drawing © Grand Valley State University �Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh Richard A. Rhem Page 4 out the meaning of a literary piece. The Greek word behind the English "made him known" is Exaeasis. or exegesis in English. But, we are not finished with our biblical foundation of my claim that seeing is believing when the Word becomes flesh. If we had only John's Gospel, we might think that God became human once for all in the humanity of Jesus, that incarnation was a once for all episode and, for those of us who have come after that once for all occurrence, the only possibility was believing, hoping to see. That is where the Gospel would leave us, as we can see, if we stay with the Gospel of John for a moment. Remember the post-Easter encounter of the risen Lord and Thomas? Thomas had missed the Easter evening appearance of Jesus to the disciples. He didn't believe it. He said, "I won't believe he lives unless I can touch his flesh." Thomas was a "show me" person. But, the Gospel writer knows from that time forth "show me" persons were out of luck. And so, we have the encounter of the risen Lord and Thomas, in which Thomas is invited to touch the wounds of Jesus, the explicit statement that such tangible experience is less blessed than those "who have not seen and yet have come to believe." The purpose statement of the Gospel, John 20:30-31, is clear: It follows immediately the Thomas story. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But, these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing, you may have life in his name. There you have it. The Fourth Gospel gives us that profound portrait of Incarnation - "The Word became flesh," and the further claim that in that incarnation in Jesus we have the clue to the Mystery of God. The truth is affirmed, but for all who follow that episode of incarnation in Jesus, the only option is to believe it hoping thereby to gain life. Precisely here the writer of the First Letter of John moves beyond the Gospel in a significant manner. The Gospel: Believe and you will see. The Letter: Love one another in concrete human community and you will see and experience the Presence and Grace of God. Both writers acknowledge the same truth: "No one has ever seen God." Both writers affirm the revelation of God in humanity - the Word become flesh. But, here is the critical difference: © Grand Valley State University �Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh Richard A. Rhem Page 5 For the Gospel, the location of that revelation is in Jesus in the days of his flesh; for the writer of the Letter, the location of that revelation is the community of human love in ongoing human experience. Jesus is the Exemplar of what is universally true - we see God in the face of the other. So, when we fall in love and exclaim, "It is divine!" that is not hyperbole. It is true. For, God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Notice again the writer's intentionality: he does not say, as we might expect those who abide in God abide in love. Then again, we might throw up our hands and exclaim, how do I abide in God? Too often in the Church we get it backwards: cultivate the devotional life; worship regularly; give generously; live piously; love God. and you will know and you will find salvation. No, that is all backwards. Love one another - Love the stranger - Love and the rest will follow; it is as simple as that! I’m confident, knowing you, Bill, and knowing that this congregation has called you to be their pastor, that I am preaching to the choir. But, looking out on the wasteland of religion in these United States in our day, this elementary truth has been largely forgotten. I'm pleased to know in that vast wasteland there will be here an oasis of Grace, a concretion of Love, and Belding will see and believe. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Ordination Service for Bill Freeman Scripture Text Micah 6:608, I Corinthians 13, John 1:1-5, 14, 18 Location The location of the interview First Congregational United Church of Christ, Belding, Michigan 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-0-20060507 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-05-07 Title A name given to the resource Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh 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 May 7, 2006 entitled "Seeing is Believing: When the Word Becomes Flesh", on the occasion of Ordination Service for Bill Freeman, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Belding, Michigan. Scripture references: Micah 6:608, I Corinthians 13, John 1:1-5, 14, 18. 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 Divine Intention God is Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/652a2e0f38138c10e17ff262e8cc0d65.pdf e2e2e005e79611c0d8bf98d299f22f1e PDF Text Text The Making of a Liberal Sunday Evening Social Richard A. Rhem Spring Lake Country Club Spring Lake, Michigan August 6, 2006 Prepared text for talk It is wonderful to see you and to be with you again. I was delighted with the first social gathering – it was electric – hugs and tears and laughter: a great combination! As I indicated then, I was a bit embarrassed that so many came to hear my story, but then realized that was what was advertised so you came anyway. Then Tom Hammond clarified the situation for me when he assured me that the reason this community gathers is not because of the address but rather to meet one another – and I know he was teasing me, but he was also correct. Being together with such a community is a rich experience worth enduring sermons poor and poorer. Some of you have told me you know my story and the first presentation didn’t bring anything new. Let me say I know some of you know my story well, but my decision to go over it again was not to tell it one more time but to tell it for the first time from the place to which I’ve come and the present understanding I have. My story, as all of our stories, is particular but in the particular there lies the universal and it is the universal aspects that interest me – not just for myself, but for all of us. I hope my reflection can be a catalyst for you to reflect on your own story, bringing to awareness where you are and why you are where you are. To live with awareness and intentionality is a great gift – awareness of why we are passionate about some questions, why we react strongly in some situations, why some things simply don’t touch us or move us. The process about which I’m speaking involves increasingly bringing to consciousness that vast underground sea of the unconscious. I’m no expert here but I know that there are depths in us that erupt or seep through, fashioning our attitudes and determining our actions. The more I am aware of how I act and react in any given situation, the more I will live with self-understanding and selfknowledge. Why am I moved, or not, by religious experience; why am I a Christian – a conservative Christian or a liberal Christian; why am I a Republican or Democrat; © Grand Valley State University   �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 2   why do I feel as I do about Israel, the Middle East – Iraq, Iran, Hamas, Palestinians, and so on… It is with such questions in mind, with such a search, that I go over my story from the present perspective. And I do so for my own understanding but, more importantly here, to trigger a similar process in you, because such a process renders great riches and enhances our lives. The fascinating question for me revolves around the relationship of my early nurture and my educational experience. As I reported last week, high academic achievement throughout my schooling, yet, at age 25, I was not an educated person in terms of critical thinking and critical analysis. What would I have gained from a more open nurturing? Yet, when my system broke, I never felt adrift from God, rudderless, or despondent. When the dogmatic structure imploded, was it the deep nurturing that enabled me to stand amidst the failed system? And how about you? Have you mapped your journey? Not everyone experiences a crisis of faith and identity but I did – a total swing from absolutism to critical rationality and provisionalism. That is where I find myself at this point in my life – knowing my values, beliefs, commitments are choices I make without absolute certainty and without verifiable proofs. I hope in my third presentation to detail some of the fundamental choices I have made and the fundamental trust with which I live. But let me pick up the story where I left off in my first presentation: I have settled in the Netherlands enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Leiden under the direction of Professor Hendrikus Berkhof. As I have indicated, a recent re-reading of Gary Dorrien’s The Making of American Liberal Theology, Vol. II, brought me to a sharp awareness that I had never studied or been aware of the theological development in this country and yet it was a remarkable tradition. I had, however, studied in depth the liberal development in Europe. That development looks to Friedrich Schleiermacher as the Father of the Liberal Theological movement. The orthodox Christian faith was seriously challenged in the late 18th century. The rise of the natural sciences employing the scientific method of empirical investigation and the rise of historical consciousness in the 19th century were the major challenges to the dogmatic structure of Christian faith, both in its Catholic and Protestant expressions. The culture of the European universities were not at all sympathetic to religion and, specifically, not to Christian faith. Schleiermacher, at age 29 in 1797, wrote On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultural Despisers, a title that speaks volumes. He was part of the cultural elite but felt © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 3   totally isolated from his contemporaries. His “Speeches” were his attempt to give expression to his own deepest truth. In the first speech he acknowledges no authority beyond his own thought and experience. Why then, as I am fully conscious that in all I have to say to you I entirely belie my profession, should I not acknowledge it like any other accident? Its prepossessions shall in no way hinder us. Neither in asking nor in answering shall the limits it holds sacred be valid between us. As a man I speak to you of the sacred secrets of mankind according to my views – of what was in me as with youthful enthusiasm I sought the unknown, of what since then I have thought and experienced, of the innermost springs of my being which shall forever remain for me the highest, however I be moved by fear. Nor is it done from any caprice or accident. Rather it is the pure necessity of my nature; it is a divine call; it is that which determines my position in the world and makes me what I am. Wherefore, even if it were neither fitting nor prudent to speak of religion, there is something which compels me and represses with its heavenly power all those small considerations Let me be clear. As I arrived in Leiden at age 32, I was nowhere near the wisdom and insight of Schleiermacher. My foundations were crumbling and my systematic theological scheme was faltering but I was not yet able to diagnose my dilemma. Even so, I begin with Schleiermacher because I now realize that the task he set for himself was precisely what I have been engaged in for over 30 years – for me a long, arduous journey toward freedom – the freedom to wonder, critique and change. It was right here in Spring Lake that this drama took place during the years 1971 to 2004. I remember vividly my return here in 1971. I was not sure I had anything to preach or if I could lead the worship service. I had been in Europe for four years, having preached twice: once in The Hague and once in Antwerp. I chose a dissertation subject that was just breaking with most of the work in German philosophical theology that was heavy indeed but the focus – the question of whether there are traces of God’s action within history that were discernible – was my question. The discussion centered in the resurrection of Jesus – a subject that had not been seriously considered in German theology for over a century. I was full of that discussion and had written the first chapter when I felt it necessary to return to the States to check on my children who had left with their mother on July 1, 1970. My whole domestic situation at the time would take a chapter to portray and was not insignificant to my eventual theological movement but would take me from my purpose in this presentation. In sum, I returned here, not knowing whether I could find my voice to lead the Spring Lake congregation but I did insist, “Give me Jesus and the resurrection and the rest is negotiable.” © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 4   What Schleiermacher was consciously about as the 18th century closed, I was about also, but without the clarity with which he sought to ground his faith in a new mode and bring Christian faith to fresh expression. In a series, Makers of the Modern Theological Mind, C. W. Christian writes the volume Friedrich Schleiermacher. He sets the historical context for Schleiermacher’s work. The question confronting Schleiermacher and nineteenth-century theology was whether it was any longer possible to restore the vitality of Christian faith and to provide a basis for a vigorous and creative future. The double crisis of scientific empiricism and relativizing historicism seemed to tear away the foundations on which traditional Christianity had stood. Claude Welch has expressed the two absolutely urgent questions which confronted the generation of Schleiermacher; namely, whether theology is any longer possible in the modern world, and, even if it is, whether a Christian theology is possible. Schleiermacher’s work as a theologian can be understood in large measure as a response to these questions. If the rehabilitation of faith and theology was to be more than doctrinaire, several specific demands faced the one who assumed the task. First, he must find a new authority for faith, since the traditional appeal to church authority and Scripture seemed no longer sufficient. Second, he must demonstrate how the work of theology is to be done in the changed, intellectual and cultural atmosphere of the modern world. Finally, he must show what an adequate theology – one which is at the same time truly modern and genuinely Christian – has to say. Thus the theological quest of Schleiermacher is threefold: it is (1) a search for authority, (2) a reconstruction of theological method, and (3) a reformulation of the content of religious faith in general and of the Christian faith in particular. That concise summary of Schleiermacher’s task is possible when one looks in retrospect from the end to the beginning – something I am now attempting for myself. While at the time of my European experience I did not have such clarity, one thing I knew for certain: the authority with which I had based my Christian faith to that point was broken. I knew the view of Scripture that sees it as an inerrant, infallible revelation from God, mediated by the Spirit through human instrumentality, was no longer a tenable article of faith for me. Thus I did know in personal experience that I needed a new authority. It is understandable that those who go through a faith crisis most often come face-toface with the matter of authority. As Gary Dorrien writes in the first volume of his trilogy The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion: The idea of liberal theology is nearly three centuries old. In essence, it is the idea that Christian theology can be genuinely Christian without being based upon external authority. Since the eighteenth century, liberal Christian thinkers have argued that religion should be modern and © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 5   progressive and that the meaning of Christianity should be interpreted from the standpoint of modern knowledge and experience. For the most part we are born into a faith, whether Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and all the myriad of religious expressions. That is the way it has been in traditional societies. With the advent of modernity in the West, that has broken down, eroded by the rise of critical rationality. The empirical method of the natural sciences and the rise of historical thinking in the 19th century have caused us to question the received tradition handed down. Still, we begin at heart in the religious understanding and posture into which we are born, for the most part. But then, for some of us, questions arise. For Schleiermacher, as the 18th century closed, the whole elite cultural milieu was hostile to religion as a phase in human development that was passing before the triumphant march of human rationality. For me, it was simply questions that I could no longer suppress, spawned by pastoral experience and continuing study and reflection. I began to realize how many pat answers were really learned responses that were not rooted in reason, tried and tested, but simply what the narrow confines of my conservative tradition taught. And the wider my exposure to other traditions and communities, the more it was apparent that the whole structure of faith and practice was arbitrary, constructed at some point in the past, given the mantle of divine authority and passed along as absolute truth. One of the unexpected gifts of my experience in The Netherlands was worshiping at the American Church in The Hague as well as the Dutch Hervormde Kerk. The Hague had about 4000 Americans, many of them southern oil folk who worked the North Sea. Those for whom a church community and worship was important gathered on Sunday, coming from all points on the Protestant spectrum. A good number of Southern Baptists with big red-covered floppy Bibles, High Church Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians and even some Dutch folk wanting to practice their English. For me this was a marvelous introduction to ecumenical Christian community. All the respective forms were used. If an Episcopal baby was to be baptized, the Episcopal liturgy was used, if Presbyterian, the Presbyterian liturgy and practice was followed, and so on. When the Eucharist was celebrated, one could go forward, kneel and receive the sacrament at the rail or wait in the pew for the elements to be passed. The congregation from various backgrounds found community in a foreign land and celebrated their mutual Christian faith by means of their respective traditions. I’ve often reflected on that experience as the seed bed for my return here and our name change from the First Reformed Church to Christ Community Church four months later. Once let loose in such a rich ecumenical experience, I wanted us to become more than a Reformed congregation. In June 1971, we took our first step © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 6   out of the narrow confines of a particular parochial institutional affiliation, opening up to the whole spectrum of Christian institutional alignments. The point I’m making here is that what for me once was the divinely ordered institutional form and structure, as expressed in the Reformed Church in America, was now understood as one historically conditioned institutional form and structure – relative to its time and place of origin. This all seems so elementary, such recognition seems so obvious to me now, but it was not always so. It was a process of exposure and experience beyond the narrow confines of my early exclusive experience in the Reformed church with its heavy Dutch ethnicity, piety, and doctrinal teaching. But the breaking out of church forms and structures was child’s play compared with the theological struggle that lay ahead of me. It was the engagement with the theological formulation of my Christian faith that brought me to Europe and, again, the question of authority was the first item that needed to be dealt with. Slowly, painfully, I was moving from a Reformed Christian with the mantra “Soli Scriptura” – by Scripture alone – to a liberal posture that approached the Bible critically, understanding it in terms of the historical context in which it arose and recognizing that it was not a book of one unified theme, consistent from Genesis to Revelation, but a vast collection of writings covering centuries of variegated human experience and spiritual insight, wisdom and historical experience. Where does one find authority? Why do I believe this rather than that? How does one arbitrate between conflicting claims of the respective faith traditions? Huge questions! And, reading in The Christian Century the report of the annual synods of the respective denominations, one is aware that these respective bodies have not yet come to consensus on the authority question. As I said above, I was on the way to a liberal posture. Let me attempt to put “liberal” in the context in which I use it. I cannot trace the history of the liberal movement as it issued from Schleiermacher in Europe or as it developed in the American liberal tradition, but I hope I can enable you to see the liberal posture, not as a movement with its own set of religious insights and doctrinal formulations, but rather as a method, a set of mind as one approaches all questions. I find it interesting that in our present religious and political discourse the liberal label is looked on as negative. There is an election Tuesday and the campaign literature that has come to our house finds the candidates touting their conservative credentials; a liberal doesn’t stand a chance in our region. Yet the Oxford Encyclopedia English Dictionary defines “liberal” as “giving freely, generous, not sparing; open-minded, not prejudiced; not literal (of interpretation); for general broadening of the mind, regarding many traditional beliefs as dispensable, invalidated by modern thought, or liable to change.” © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Sounds pretty good to me. Why would not everyone want to be liberal? Well, perhaps because the liberal movement also became codified with its own set of beliefs; it became liberalism marked by its own creedal formulations. This discussion would lead us astray from my purpose which is to see the liberal approach, not as a well-formulated set of beliefs, but as a method. This was insisted on by one of the Chicago School Theologians, Shailer Matthews (born 1863). He wrote The Faith of Modernism, using the term “modernism” in a positive sense although it was used as a derogatory description of those liberal thinkers who were trying to find an expression of Christian faith in light of modern knowledge. As Dorrien describes Matthew’s work, The mainline churches were trapped in stupid debates over outmoded literal dogmas while the world went to hell…. “There are two social minds at work in our world,” he observed. “The one seeks to reassert the past; the other seeks by new methods to gain efficiency.” The first was a futile reaction against modernity, but the second could not succeed without progressive Christian guidance and support. (Vol. II, p. 205). …The key difference was its scientific character. Matthews argued that modernism was not a new theology or philosophy. It was essentially a method, not a creed…it was “the use of scientific, historical, social method in understanding and applying evangelical Christianity to the needs of living persons.” Modernism had no confessions, it did not vote in conventions, and it did not enforce belief by coercion…Dogmatic Christianity is based on doctrinal conformity through group authority; modern Christianity begins with the religious movement that gave rise to doctrine and interprets the movement through the use of critical methodologies. Modernists are Christians “who accept the result of scientific research as data with which to think religiously.” (Vol. II, p. 206). Dorrien has been most helpful to me in defining liberal theology. In the Introduction to Volume I, he writes, The intellectual giants of nineteenth-century theological liberalism were German theologians and philosophers, but the questions that gave rise to this tradition were not unique to German academics: Is it possible to be a faithful Christian without believing that God willed the annihilation of nearly the entire human race in a great flood, or that God commanded the genocidal extermination of the ancient enemies of Israel, or that God demanded the literal sacrifice of his Son as a substitutionary legal payment for sin? Is it a good or true form of Christianity that teaches the doctrines of double predestination and biblical inerrancy? Can Christianity claim to be religiously true if the bible contains myths and historical errors? Is there a progressive Christian “third way” between the authority-based © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 8   orthodoxies of traditional Christianity and the spiritless materialism of modern atheism or deism?... The liberal tradition of theology that flowed out of the enlightenment established the methods and laid the enduring conceptual foundations of modern critical theological scholarship by appealing to the authority of critical rationality and religious experience. In accord with my concept of it as a movement that began in the late eighteenth century, I define liberal theology primarily by its original character as a mediating Christian movement. Liberal Christian theology is a tradition that derives from the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcentury Protestant attempt to reconceptualize the meaning of traditional Christian teaching in the light of modern knowledge and modern ethical values. It is not revolutionary but reformist in spirit and substance. Fundamentally it is the idea of a genuine Christianity not based on external authority. Liberal theology seeks to reinterpret the symbols of traditional Christianity in a way that creates a progressive religious alternative to atheistic rationalism and to theologies based on external authority. Specifically, liberal theology is defined by its openness to the verdicts of modern intellectual inquiry, especially the natural and social sciences; its commitment to the authority of individual reason and experience; its conception of Christianity as an ethical way of life; its favoring of moral concepts of atonement; and its commitment to make Christianity credible and socially relevant to modern people. (Vol. I, pp. xiii-xxii). In the second volume, Dorrien defines liberal theology’s essence. The essential idea of liberal theology is that all claims to truth, in theology as in other disciplines, must be made on the basis of reason and experience, not by appeal to external authority. Christian scripture may be recognized as spiritually authoritative within Christian experience, but its word does not settle or establish truth claims about matters of fact. In the nineteenth century this idea was imagined and developed by a relative handful of American religious thinkers, until 1880’s, when it became a movement… (Vol. II, p. 1). References: Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805-1900, Vol. I. John Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 190-1950, Vol. II. Westminster John Knox Press, 2003. © Grand Valley State University �The Making of a Liberal Richard A. Rhem Page 9   C. W. Christian. Makers of the Modern Theological Mind: Friedrich Schleiermacher. W. Publishing Group, 1979. Friedrich Schleiermacher. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultural Despisers, 1797. © 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 Summer Social Gathering Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club References C.W. Christian.Makers of the Modern Theological Mind, 1979. Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology, Vols I, II, 2001, 2003. Friedrich Schleiermacher.On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultural Despisers, 1797. 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-0-20060806 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-08-06 Title A name given to the resource The Making of a Liberal 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 August 6, 2006 entitled "The Making of a Liberal", on the occasion of Summer Social Gathering, at Spring Lake Country Club . 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 History of Liberalism personal journey PostModern https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/83facdebde0d21920172dcf9c1cf1dce.pdf 639e568d0ead7885d5858d339b63249d PDF Text Text The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Summer Social Gathering Richard A. Rhem The Spring Lake Country Club Spring Lake, Michigan August 27, 2006 On this, another social gathering, I want to say what a pleasure it has been to be with you on these summer evenings, and to thank you for giving me an opportunity to reflect on my life and ministry from the perspective of my retirement. For the first time in that two-year period, I have been stimulated to think about my journey from the deep Christian formation of my childhood and youth to the unabashed posture of a critical thinking intellectual of open and liberal mind and spirit. That is the identity I would claim for myself. Critical Thinking - We live in a cultural period named Post-Modern which is a designation that means simply "after the Modern," and conveys the fact that we don't really know what to call the present. Post-Modern thinkers criticize the Modern Period - the Enlightenment over-confidence in human rationality to master the Mystery of reality. However, one of my best teachers, Hans Küng, wrote in one of his earlier works that the one mark of modernity that we must never lose is critical rationality, the exercise of human intelligence, of human reason, in the pursuit of the human project. Intellectual -I remember so vividly the Sunday the great New Testament scholar, Bishop Krister Stendahl, preached at Christ Community and spoke at the Perspectives hour. He said, "I am an unabashed intellectual." I loved it and began at that point to own the designation for myself. There are intellectuals and there are intellectuals, and I have no illusions about being in the "Intellectual Big Leagues." Nonetheless, I do value the life of the mind, the world of ideas and the intellectual probing of new frontiers of the human experience. Being a pastor first of all, I did not have the luxury of the scholarly life of reading, reflection and writing. Yet, in the tasks of preaching and teaching, I was always fascinated by the intellectual task of understanding - understanding the biblical story, the theological tradition and their application to ongoing human experience. Of Open and Liberal Mind and Spirit. My last presentation traced my movement to a liberal posture - liberal of mind and spirit. Let me pick up the story there, reminding you that being liberal is not a position, but a posture. It is not a creedal position or even a religious commitment, nor is it a political platform. It has to do with the open mind operating with critical © Grand Valley State University   �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 2   rationality that engages religious/cultural/moral and political issues, seeking understanding in order to forge commitments and action intended for the enhancement of the human situation - ultimately for creating a global community rooted in love, marked by grace - in a word, the realization of the Hebrew prophets' magnificent vision of Shalom - peace as total harmony. The Vision The vision of Shalom - of a new creation - comes to expression in various prophetic writings in the Hebrew tradition. I refer you to two, one from Isaiah, the great 8th century, B.C.E., prophet, in Chapter 11, which begins with the idea of "a shoot" from "the stump of Jesse," and Chapter 65 of Isaiah, a writing from a later prophet during the Exile looking to the Return. We need not debate the conception of God as the sovereign of history, nor the fact that the vision was not realized in the Exile's return and which, in the present violent chaos of the Middle East, seems farther from realization than ever. The vision ends: They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. There was in the human mind and heart over two and a half millennia ago such a vision. I find that most remarkable. It remains a dream in the human breast while our whole understanding of cosmic reality and the action of God in history has been radically transformed. That transformation has come about by the emergence of the scientific breakthroughs through the empirical method, applied by critical reason to the study of the natural world. And that transformation has been fought at every new breakthrough by religious authority and, unfortunately, such fighting still marks much of the religious world. Such opposition is futile and fruitless and has caused much of the intellectual community to write off the religious community as hopelessly benighted. In the epic struggle of science and religion, there have been scholars on the scientific side who have claimed more than their empirical investigations can justify, denying the whole realm of religious mystery and experience. One such is Francis Crick, who, in his The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul, writes, The astonishing hypothesis is that "you," your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. As Lewis Carroll's Alice might have phrased it: "You're nothing but a pack of neurons ..." The scientific belief is that our minds - the behavior of our brains - can be explained by the interactions of nerve cells (and other cells) and the molecules associated with them, (p. 3, 7) Crick claims this position stands in contrast with "The religious concept of a soul, and puts science in a head-on contradiction to the religious belief of billions of human beings alive today." © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 3   "A head-on contradiction ..." indeed, and it rages still. But, is that impasse the only possibility? I contend it is not and will attempt to offer an alternative possibility. In doing so, I do not claim to be proposing something new and original, but rather, what many scholars both in science and religion have proposed. The Wonder of the Cosmos The scientific endeavor is never finished, but what we have learned about the natural world takes our breath away. We stand in wonder and awe before the unfolding of the cosmic dance - an unfolding we are told that has been in process for over 13 billion years. And space! Can we begin to comprehend the thought of an expanding universe of billions of light years, of billions of stars and galaxies and, some would claim, parallel universes? Mind-boggling beyond my capacity to take in. At its best, the scientific enterprise continues to probe, recognizing, as the great Einstein claimed, it is probing Mystery, with each new breakthrough bringing forth fresh questions, creating models, carrying on experiments which bring forth more data that, in turn, call for new paradigms. It is a wonder-full drama with no necessity to threaten religious reality, although certainly necessitating adjustment of ancient forms of religious belief. To resist the ongoing march of scientific discovery, as indicated above, is futile and foolish and it robs one of the freedom to revel in amazement at the natural order into which our lives are woven. Rather, in my experience, it is inspiring to take in the natural world to the extent possible and then re-think the possibilities of religious response in light of what is. So, where are we? We have a marvelous vision of Shalom from the ancient prophet, expressed in a worldview and conception of God which the natural sciences and historical consciousness make necessary to revise. Let me attempt to portray the ongoing development of human understanding by reminding you of my own journey which I think many of you have traversed, as well. That journey consists of three stages: The Pre-Critical The Critical The Post-Critical In my first presentation, I told you of my whole academic experience through high school, college and seminary which left me in a pre-critical stage, unable and unwilling to think critically as I held to and taught the biblical story in terms of the ancient biblical worldview. I was defensive of that worldview, took it literally, and was threatened by all knowledge to the contrary. But, alas, finally I could no longer deny that my deeply formed and very rigid understanding of the biblical paradigm could no longer be held with integrity. In the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson, © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Our little systems have their day, they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O Lord, art more than they. It must be obvious that being deeply formed in a pre-critical mindset in a world exploding with data that could not be incorporated into that pre-modern understanding of God, nature and history put one in a very uncomfortable position - constantly threatened, always on the defensive and wondering what the next breakthrough in the sciences might reveal. Finally, my "little system" broke and I was ready to open myself to the best of human knowledge and understanding. Intellectual honesty, I realized, was also a spiritual matter. I wanted to know the truth and tell the truth to the extent that was possible for me. Thus, I entered the next phase of my life and ministry - the critical phase - a phase that lasted for me about thirty years, during which I was preaching and teaching, thinking, reading and writing. My move into the critical stage was never marked by a "loss of faith" or a negative spirit over against my Christian faith. During those three decades, I was being a pastor and living out of a deep faith that was undergoing considerable revision, but never overthrown. I lived out the experience that Gary Dorrien, in his Making of the American Liberal Theology, documents. I find his definition of the Liberal movement and his high valuation of it precisely my experience. He defines the Liberal movement thus: In accord with my concept of it as a movement that began in the late eighteenth century, I define liberal theology primarily by its original character as a mediating Christian movement. Liberal Christian theology is a tradition that derives from the late-eighteenth and early nineteenthcentury Protestant attempt to reconceptualize the meaning of traditional Christian teaching in the light of modern knowledge and modern ethical values. It is not revolutionary but reformist in spirit and substance. Fundamentally it is the idea of a genuine Christianity not based on external authority. Liberal theology seeks to reinterpret the symbols of traditional Christianity in a way that creates a progressive religious alternative to atheistic rationalism and to theologies based on external authority. (Vol. I, p. XXIII) It took me a long time to work out the question of biblical authority and I can trace the gradual movement in my understanding. But, the mediating function of the liberal approach was obvious to me, once my infallible, inerrant scripture eroded and my conservative biblical paradigm collapsed. I spent the Fall Term in 1983 at the University of Michigan with Professor Hans Küng, who was deeply engaged at the time in his work on paradigm change in theology. A book of great impact, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), by Thomas S. Kuhn, had, in the words of one commentator, made clear that © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 5   science is not the steady, cumulative acquisition of knowledge that is portrayed in the textbooks. Rather, it is a series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions ... in each of which, one conceptual world view is replaced by another ... The book was enlarged in a second edition in 1970. Küng charted the course of paradigm shifts in theological development from the earliest centuries much as Kuhn did for the unfolding scientific worldviews in which he showed how, in the scientific revolutions, one worldview is replaced by another. Kuhn documented how the scientist takes the data available and builds a model or a paradigm. Further data comes to light that doesn't fit into the prevailing paradigm and it is resisted, but finally more data is accumulated and the prevailing paradigm is rejected, its data and the new data of discovery are combined into a new paradigm that can accommodate all the data available at that time. Küng documented a similar movement in theological conception except, in the religious community, there were always groups that perpetuated a given paradigm despite the ever-evolving knowledge of the cosmic story and scientific understanding. Out-of-date worldviews are manifold in religious worldviews. But, this is where the Liberal movement comes in - no longer willing or able to deny the explosion of knowledge provided by the natural and social sciences, the liberal Christian thinkers were open to scientific breakthroughs and, with continuing commitment to their Christian faith and experience, sought to distinguish the faith from the worldviews in which it came to expression. Thus, there was revision of much biblical conceptuality and the faith that came to expression in the ancient worldview was set free from the ancient forms in which it was expressed. This was the mediating function of the liberal movement - the use of critical reason to understand the data of scientific discovery and the discernment of Christian faith that was wrapped in now outdated worldviews that had to be abandoned in light of new discovery. This process which marked the Liberal movement and continues to be its finest gift to Christian faith is a process I have gone through, as indicated above, and let me acknowledge it is scary and sometimes painful. One wonders if one's faith will dissolve, leaving one without the source of one's meaning, hope and comfort. And, it can be costly! Hans Küng, in 1983, had just learned that the German Bishop, Joseph Ratzinger, presently Pope, had passed on Rome's decree that the theology courses Küng taught at Tubingen would no longer be credited for those studying for the priesthood. To read Küng's Memoirs is to realize the risk one takes as one seeks to bring one's Christian understanding into accord with one's understanding of the knowledge available in all the disciplines of human learning. Yet, once one sees one's faith as distinct from the conceptual framework in which it first came to expression, and once one opens one's mind to the knowledge of the natural and social sciences, there is no "going home." And so one must move through the Critical stage, testing everything, ruling out no question, claiming no privilege of "the eyes of faith" in one's inquiry. © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 6   The Critical phase is both necessary and dissatisfying for one deeply formed in the conservative biblical paradigm as I was. It is an anxiety-ridden experience; one wonders where one will end up. But I was fortunate in that I had time to read and think and write sermons. And, I took a cadre of folk with me in Wednesday evening classes where we probed the questions and read significant scholarly works. And along the way, there were cumulative experiences. I've already mentioned the semester with Küng. And, in the early 90s, the exposure to the Jewish community, involvement with the Jewish-Christian committee, and the inter-faith experience was very significant for me. Perhaps the most significant endeavor for me was serving on the Board of Editors of Perspectives, a journal of Reformed theology intended to stimulate theological dialogue in the Reformed Church. In the writing of several essays, I began to focus the new understanding I had been gaining in my reading and reflection. In these years 1985-95, I brought into sharp focus the results of my critical inquiry of the previous years post-Europe. I won't trace the development of my thinking here, but simply point out that by the mid-90s, the Muskegon Classis challenged my theological position, determining I was outside the pale of Reformed theology and, with the congregation, I moved out of the RCA to independency. I experienced freedom - a freedom I did not know I did not have while engaging in my critical testing of my theological understanding while still in the ordained ministry of the RCA. Now I was finally free to follow the consequences of years of critical investigation. Declaring our independence in 1996, by 1999 I had moved into a Post-Critical stage. But, before I go there, I must mention that my understanding of the nature and function of religion was changing. This change came about as I got involved in inter-religious dialogue, as well as experiencing firsthand the deeply religious life of one who called himself a Religious Naturalist - Dr. Duncan Littlefair. I saw in him the celebration of the wonder, miracle, joy and glory of life, lived out in a life of worship and the wonder of all creation and the human being. These concrete life experiences were life-changing for me. I wonder if we ever really change, if we are ever transformed in any other way than through encounter and concrete experience. I had to rethink the phenomenon of religion itself, all knowledge to the contrary. One of the significant scholars whose work we studied was Gordon Kaufman, who had recently retired from Harvard. His In Face of Mystery was a great "revelation" for me, especially his claim that religion is a human creative construct. Tracing the development of the human from earliest beginnings, he showed how the religious dimension developed and I found his explanation compelling. I came to understand how religion played a significant role in human development, beginning within clans and tribes as the means to explain the natural phenomena experienced, to seek security and harmony with the Ultimate Mystery, eventuating in 800-600 BCE in the great religious traditions that arose simultaneously in what is called the First Axial Period. Informed by such an understanding, I came to see religious truth, not as a series of creedal propositions containing absolute truth, but as sacred story lived out in © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 7   life-forming fashion through prayer, ritual and moral living. The story was celebrated in music and sacred dance and worship. And, as Karen Armstrong has claimed, at the heart of all the great religions is the call to compassion. Understanding the nature and function of religion thus, I realized exclusivism was a hangover of tribalism and, for me, the theology of religion pointed to pluralism as the only reasonable conclusion. This, too, was freeing; with absolutism and exclusivism removed, I was able to go back to my own story, the biblical story and my Christian faith - no longer needing to defend or convince or argue, but simply search out again its depth and meaning, its wisdom and its teaching as to the meaning of human existence before the Face of the Sacred Mystery we call God. I had entered fully the post-critical stage where I could see the whole grand story and tradition as for the first time - and loving it now, not as the only way, truth and life, but as my way, my truth, my life. No need now to prove anything; rather, I could live fully in the human world, open to the wonder and miracle of the universe, trusting that all Being was grounded in an Ultimate Mystery that was the creative, enlivening source of all that is. An Ultimate Mystery who is lifegiving, as seen in the cosmic drama that has been emerging with life to the point at which the human can trace the process of billions of years and stand in awe of it all, giving voice in praise and adoration. Emergence has become a key concept for me as I survey the whole cosmic drama - the gradual unfolding of the universe issuing, at this point in the process, in creatures such as we are. Emergence I understand as a model I create in place of the ancient Genesis story with its profound mythical story, and I propose emergence because I can hear all the data available from cosmology in its present state and see it as the emerging reality that has come to this point without feeling any threat to my religious being. In other words, I can receive the latest and best knowledge and then think about it religiously in terms of my biblical story. And here I find a fascinating point of connection. In John's Gospel the prologue begins In the beginning was the Word ... In Greek, "word" is logos, a philosophical term that points to the divine intention in Creation. The prologue reminds us of Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God... And then in verse 14, The word became flesh ..., a reference to Jesus as the human incarnation of the Divine Intention. Then in verse 18, an interesting statement, No one has ever seen God, followed by the claim that Jesus, the Word made flesh, has made God known. This, of course, is the Christian understanding of Jesus as the embodiment of God in human being - The Christian understanding of Incarnation. God become Human. Translating that into Emergence conceptuality, I would say that the cosmic process emanating from the Creative Source, the Ultimate Mystery, has evolved to a point where that Infinite Mystery emerged in human form. © Grand Valley State University �The Magnificent Vision of Shalom Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Stating it differently, the Infinite is now revealed in finite form - the human - and the human, in the image of the Infinite, is the emergent form of that Infinite Ground - thus, the deep yearning for God in the human being. This whole idea is given a further and profound development in the First Epistle of John, chapter 4. In verse 7, we are called to love one another because love is from God, and "God is love." Then the phrase from the Gospel, 1:18, is repeated, No one has ever seen God. But, then a significant development of the idea of incarnation is added: If we love one another, God lives in us, and God's love is perfected in us. A few lines later, the same claim is made. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. If we put all this together, we have a theological model which is in harmony with an emerging cosmic drama whose Creative Source, God, is understood as Love and whose presence in the cosmos is experienced in human love, the human being the embodiment of the infinite creative Ground of Being. The cosmos becomes conscious in the human and love is the highest expression of cosmic reality - love that gathers all into harmony, the only possibility for Shalom, the ancient prophets' vision. And where do we see such love lived out? In our biblical story, we see it concretely come to expression in Jesus, in whom the cycle of violence was broken, who counseled, "Love your enemies," and whose non-violent resistance to imperial power and political expediency brought him to the violent death by crucifixion. Jesus, who was true to his own teaching as he died, prayed Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing. Other religious traditions teach and encourage positive human values and contain profound insights, having guided generations in their respective "ways." I need not denigrate another tradition. I need not claim I have fully grasped the deepest insights of the biblical story, nor claim I have embodied the way, the truth and the life as it came to expression in Jesus. But, it is enough for me that that story, that life in which I have been nurtured, which I have preached, challenges, inspires and enables me to realize my full humanity. And I believe that in that “Way, Truth and Life” lies the hope for a human future - the realization of the vision of Shalom. References: Francis Crick. The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul, 1994. Scribner reprint edition, 1995. © 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 Summer Social Gathering Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club References Francis Crick. The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul, 1994. Gary Dorrien. The Making of the American Liberal Theology, Vol. 2, 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-0-20060827 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-08-27 Title A name given to the resource The Magnificent Vision of Shalom 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 August 27, 2006 entitled "The Magnificent Vision of Shalom", on the occasion of Summer Social Gathering, at Spring Lake Country Club . 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 God as Love Paradigm Shift PostModern Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8d318e328034c733717d5bd24faae2e6.pdf 39397f776b4fdfb5e22a9baf5345814f PDF Text Text   Here I Stand Sunday Evening Gathering Spring Lake Country Club Richard A. Rhem September 24, 2006 Well, that’s a little dramatic, I suppose. It comes from Martin Luther as he stood before the Diet of Worms giving an account of his faith. This is not such a historyshaping moment and where I stand is of little interest beyond the narrow confines of Christ Community. Yet we have shared a wonderful experience of faith community and beautiful worship: intelligent, aesthetically uplifting and inspirational, all marked by excellence. And now for many there is an absence of that experience and a void in the soul. I share that experience, or lack of experience. We are still part of the community; we still support it financially. We still hope for it a good and strong future. Yet, Nancy and I must acknowledge that we feel estranged and sense ourselves more at home with the community in exile––the Diaspora. That being the case I feel it important and necessary to be clear about my engagement or lack of it since Thanksgiving, 2005. Let me say that I wondered if I should be here tonight. I was happy to do the three summer Sunday evenings. When asked, I was assured this was an opportunity for good friends with much shared history to meet, an opportunity since those envisioned were those who had dropped out of regular worship attendance and missed the experience of community. Those evenings arose quite spontaneously and were not the result of some strategy session by a committee looking for an alternative to CCC. Was it naive to think such gatherings would not make the sense of loss felt more deeply? Perhaps. Were those gatherings created purposefully to create such a sense and a yearning? Simply, no; there was no ulterior motive I know in my mind and I do not believe in the minds of the initiators either. In any case, the gatherings generated a desire and request for more monthly gatherings and, now, with this difference: Now beyond the original purpose of social gathering, it was announced that the community itself would discuss where it was in relation to CCC. © Grand Valley State University   �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 2   A clear demarcation was made between the three summer gatherings and this evening’s gathering and those to follow. That’s why I questioned whether I should be here; to gather with you where no CCC talk was allowed was one thing; to be here where you are beginning to ask, “Where are we? What is our future?” is another. I decided to be here and to speak because I decided it was important for me to set the record straight since inevitably all sorts of rumors abound. I am willing to be judged for all for which I am responsible but I want for those who care for me and trust me to hear from me where I have been and where I am. Hence my title: “Here I Stand.” I have a further motivation––a pastoral concern for you here and for the whole community. But I will come to that shortly; first my story. The Crisis As I turned over the reins, I don’t think anyone would deny I had given Ian a “running start.” The retirement celebration was marvelous. The timing was right. I was ready and delighted to retire and to let go. And I did. And for 18 months I was present and supportive of Ian’s ministry. In the Fall of 2005 I realized I was sensing a growing concern about the direction CCC was moving. I had early on suggested to Ian that people don’t get out of bed to hear what they can hear at Rotary even though I granted he was dealing with important issues, was well prepared and obviously gifted. But increasingly I missed the liturgy, the “cathedral worship” and the experience of being ‘moved” on Sunday morning. And I was concerned at the numbers that were no longer present. My concern was not really theological but the so-called Progressive label I felt was not so much Progressive Christianity as Progressive Religion in General for which the biblical tradition was almost incidental. It was not my place to voice complaint. I still claimed, “All he has to do is make it,” but I knew I was not spiritually fulfilled or satisfied on Sunday morning. But then I was put on the spot: Ian emailed me––the first communication in quite some time––asking if I would add a paragraph to the stewardship letter or, at least, co-sign it. I must tell you that put me in a real conflict situation. I wrestled and wrestled with that request. At a lunch with Cindy Anderson, Board Chair, about another matter, I told her of the request and that I couldn’t do it. I had written out why and gave that to her and she said she would tell Ian, although I emailed the same response to him. With integrity I could not ask you to support what I increasingly found troubling and this for a long-held conviction that the people have two votes on community direction: their presence; their financial support. We lived that way for years. We were “Team Driven,” supported by competent lay leadership, but I always knew finally the people ruled. Here is the email I sent: © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 3   cccgrace@charter.net Subject: RAR Reflections Date: November 30, 2005 10:44:38 PM EST Reflections of One Retired but Caring Still…. I was quite certain they were wrong who claimed I could never “let go;” I have. I found it not difficult. A marvelous retirement celebration, the excitement of the community for a fresh, new beginning, and the freedom from the daily/weekly pressure all added up to what I think was a graceful passing of the baton. I made clear that I would do what was asked of me but initiate nothing. I have lived up to that. When there emerged an uprising in the spring I did my best to support the leadership in any way I could. Beginning as Ian did in a presidential election year in a destructively polarized nation, I supported the prophetic note that sounded from the pulpit. On the one occasion I was asked by Ian to express my sense of how things were going, I pointed out my concern about the Sunday morning experience. In a nutshell, I affirmed Ian for dealing with significant subjects, displaying serious preparation and intelligent treatment. My one concern expressed was the lack of an experience of awe and wonder in the presence of Mystery—the elevation of spirit, the experience of being “moved.” My word to Ian was that people will not get up on Sunday morning to hear an interesting lecture that they might hear Friday noon at Rotary. I put it that way in order to attempt to indicate what I felt was lacking. As the weeks and months passed, it was evident that while many CCC members were absenting themselves, there was a new energy and many new faces. My “mantra” to those who were critical was “all he has to do is make it work.” I knew what I missed reflected the person I have become and that which was so central to my being—a love of high Worship, the traditional Liturgy re-interpreted/translated, received again with a second naiveté, able to touch the depths of my soul, along with an aesthetic elevation of my spirit in the seamless, carefully crafted liturgy of Word and Sacrament laced with the finest artistic expression. What my being loves and longs for is perhaps a fading appreciation. I remained unapologetic in my manner of apprehending and being apprehended by the Sacred Mystery, but I was aware that I had had my day. If the current format could bring new growth and vitality to the community and meet the needs of the rising generation, I would affirm that as the way into the future—“all he has to do is make it work.” © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The fall Courier raised concerns of a deeper dimension for me. The “Turning Eastward” raised questions. Pluralism has long been taken for granted at CCC. The study of World Religions in the Perspective Hour has occurred for several years. However, the importation of elements into our corporate worship—I still use that word intentionally—did not feel to me authentic nor did I think it enhancing of the corporate experience. My concern deepened when in September I received a call from a person I deeply respect whom I knew to be enthusiastic in the early stages of transition and whose spirit is positive and caring. She asked if I would read a piece she had written in an attempt to articulate what she was feeling about where our community was heading. I did so. I could not deny that her analysis was precisely my own. Subsequently I read a few other similar expressions that came to me. I could no longer deny that what a few thoughtful and supportive folk were saying was what I too had come to feel. Let me be clear—I am part of this community and want to remain such. This is our spiritual home, our “family.” Our pledge for 2006 is turned in. We desire the continuing well-being and prosperity of the community. I do think, however, that the voices of serous people of good heart need to be heard. I, perhaps as much as anyone, can identify with Ian in the leadership role. He must lead. He must lead out of his center, where his vision burns and his passion flows. I do not want him to trim his sails or be untrue to himself. That being said, the respective Governance Boards are responsible not only to him and the Team but to the People. It is here that I see our greatest challenge: Can the present direction of the current leadership succeed in bringing the community to a new future? During the years of my leadership we operated with a Team-Driven ministry, the respective Governance Groups affirming, supporting, critiquing. There has not been for a long time essential congregational involvement beyond the governance groups and thankfully, very little congregational discord. To those who suggested we “greased the skids” and ran freely I always replied, “The people are in charge—they vote with their feet and their dollars.” If the people are present and are paying for the ministry, then we are doing something right. I hold by that position. These reflections arise because I have been asked by Ian to sign with him or add a paragraph to a fund-raising letter. I have anguished about how to respond. I have concluded that to sign would be to endorse a course and a future I cannot with integrity endorse. © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I remain. I desire the well being of the community. I remain thankful for the place open to all—a true alternative to church as usual. I want CCC’s best/ I want Ian’s best. And I want—apart from my involvement – to let the 2005 giving and the 2006 pledging tell us how we are doing and what is required of us. RAR 11/30/05 Soon after that decision it seemed the CCC situation was less than healthy in finance, team, and community. Perhaps I stepped over the line at that point but I communicated my deep concern to the then Board Chair, Cindy Anderson, and the day before I left for Florida, to the Chair-elect, Ron Zoet. Was I out of place? Perhaps. Why did I do it? It was my sense that it was time to acknowledge that the community was in trouble and perhaps time to face that honestly with Ian, trying to determine a gracious way to deal with what I thought was the reality of our situation. No need for anger or hostility––just an honest conversation. I had stepped over the line. My intention was positive for all involved but the consequence of that communication was that, upon my return from Florida, I was confronted with the charge that it was widely perceived that I was not supportive of Ian’s ministry. A half dozen close friends knew that, but beyond the present and future Board chairs––no one else knew that from me. The charge was made by Ian in the presence of Jack Spong who had been thoroughly apprised of the situation and, with his long experience as a Bishop, had concluded the problem was that the old guy couldn’t let go. This was grossly unfair. He did say in the middle of the lunch, “How does it feel to be mousetrapped?” He sensed something but never asked why I felt as I did––and I had acknowledged to Ian that it was true––I could not be supportive of his ministry. Ian wanted to continue the conversation that week. I resisted. Finally I agreed to sit with him but only with another present, my trusted friend Peter Hart. Ian was not sure of that but eventually agreed and brought the Board Chair, Ron Zoet. That was my moment of truth. Ian asked if I would be involved in some education. I declined, saying if I had continued to be involved, perhaps I could, © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 6   but now, with the hiatus of almost a year of any significant involvement and with the current direction, I did not feel I could. And then I tried to be clear with Ian. In summary, I said, “Ian, I think you will make it. I wish you well. I will do nothing to undercut you. And when you succeed, it will not be the future I had hoped for, but that doesn’t matter. There will be a new CCC and that is the future.” I then added this footnote: I said, “I have so many friends in this community. To this point I have been so careful but now I must tell you I will be honest with my friends. I can no longer act contrary to my own inner being.” We parted on positive terms, understanding each other––simply on different wavelengths. But I assured him that I was content with a future I did not desire if he could effect that. That was not my business––I wished him well. But, in being honest with him, I felt I gained my freedom to be true to myself. Jack Spong had suggested I had to get in or get out. I chose the latter and have distanced myself from the community over these past six months, although, as I indicated above, we continue our financial support and remain a part of CCC. And, I repeat again as I said above, my first choice would be for CCC to have a strong, vibrant future with us or without us. When that future is secure, we can choose to be a part of it or not. But until that future is determined and secure, I would hope the whole community, those currently engaged and those considered the Diaspora, might with civility and mutual respect examine what options there are for CCC going forward. As we are aware, this evening is different from the summer series because we will intentionally take up the question of future options. And to the summer series folk who requested that these monthly gatherings continue, there is added a group of people who quite independently have been probing the question of the future for themselves and others who were like-minded. Let me underscore the fact that this emerging group arose totally independent of the Summer Gathering initiative and prior to the first gathering on July 9. As must be obvious, the future of CCC was on the minds of many. For the summer gathering initiative, the driving motivation was community–– being with good friends. For the emerging group, the driving motivation was a sense of the absence of experience of transcendence, the experience of being in the presence of the Mystery that embraces us and inspires us. This evening those concerns converge with the Key Question––Can there yet be a return to one community even if there were sub-communities meeting different needs and desires. This is a question for the whole community to take up––not one initiated or led by former team members. © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Here I stand; I’ve done my best to give an account of myself over the past ten months. But I have one more concern to share and that is a pastoral concern. It has to do with the spirit in which we seek our future. We have been marked by Grace over all these years and I would hope, however the future unfolds, Grace would prevail all around. In our religious formation and our spiritual commitments, powerful emotions are engaged and deeply felt. And we are all vulnerable to feelings of anger when the religious core of our being is touched. Friendships are strained, alienation is common and we fail to act out of our best selves according to our highest values. We are all in jeopardy at this time. And so, while my “Here I Stand” was an effort to set the record straight, my most important message this evening has to do with the care of our souls and concern for the spiritual well-being of those who constitute the present CCC ongoing. There is anger about and probably all around––in those who resent those who have left and in those who saw no alternative to leaving. That reality reminded me of a dialogue between God and the runaway prophet Jonah. The Hebrew Scripture book of Jonah is unlike the great books of the Hebrew prophets in that it is a parable or a folk tale rather than a concrete address to a historical situation. The story is familiar––God calls Jonah to preach to the foreign city of Nineveh and instead Jonah goes in the opposite direction. He doesn’t want Nineveh to repent and be spared God’s wrath. As Jonah is sailing in the opposite direction, God sends a storm and finally Jonah acknowledges he is the cause of the storm. He is thrown overboard, the storm ceases and Jonah finds himself in a whale of a belly––or is it the belly of a whale! Jonah repents, is spewed forth on land and makes his way to Nineveh, preaches repentance and the Ninevites heed the prophet, repent, and God mercifully spares them. What fascinates me about the story is the dialogue between God and Jonah at this point. Jonah is angry because God spared Nineveh, indeed, so angry he says “God, take my life.” And then that wonderful question: God asks, Is it right for you to be angry? At that point Jonah goes out of the city and makes a booth for himself and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. But God was not through; God caused a large plant to grow and give shade to Jonah to save him from discomfort. Jonah was happy. Then God caused a worm to attack the plant and it withered. The sun rose and God caused a sultry east wind to blow and the sun beat down on Jonah and again he asked to die. And then again the question––Is it right for you to be angry about the bush? © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 8   And Jonah said, “Yes, angry enough to die!” To which God points out Jonah’s concern for the bush pales before God’s concern for the people of Nineveh. I retell that ancient tale because of the question “Do you do well to be angry?” What the writing is really about is Jonah’s “mode of being.” God doesn’t argue with Jonah, nor does he condemn the anger or deny its presence. Rather, Jonah is asked to become aware of his own spirit and attitude. One commentator uses an interesting translation of anger––”a burning of the nostrils”––anger is a burning and while it is a common human emotion, left unattended it burns within and is destructive of the human spirit. I won’t linger here but simply suggest to all of us in many and various situations when we feel a burning within, we remember the question––Is it well or good to be angry? Why are we angry? What is the source of our anger in our own being? What does my anger say about me? The other passage that came to me is from the New Testament––Ephesians 4. The 26th verse counsels: Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. Again the reality of anger is recognized. The counsel is: own it, be aware of it and let it go. The previous statement is apropos to our situation: So then putting away falsehood, let us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. and verse 32 offers a beautiful appeal: ...be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. and 5:1 continues, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.... Ephesians is probably a post-Pauline letter in the name of Paul and its theme is the church or the Christian community, so it is especially relevant to our concerns at present. One of the most moving pleas for the unity of the Body of Christ is found in the first 6 verses of Ephesians 4. Hear this eloquent appeal: © Grand Valley State University �Here I Stand Richard A. Rhem Page 9   ...with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And then concluding with the reality that there is one body and one God...and the following section continues in a most compelling fashion to plead for unity aiming at maturity in Christ. So this is my pastoral concern––that we be very much aware of our own mode of being––self aware, self-critical, tending our own souls. And then that we hear the plea for unity in the spirit of humility and love in the bonds of peace. In a word, let Grace abound all around. I honestly do not know what the future holds for Christ Community. I hope there is a strong and vibrant future. It may be such that once again I can feel at home there, finding my spirit lifted to the face of Mystery. It may be that a future emerges such that for me there continues to be an absence of that for which my spirit yearns. In either case there is no place for anger, for anger burns and destroys. And no place for demonizing another, for that divides and alienates. It is not my place to create that future. In freedom, I will follow my heart, determined to be kind, tenderhearted, loving and seeking peace. © 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 Sunday Evening Gathering Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club 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-0-20060924 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2006-09-24 Title A name given to the resource Here I Stand 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 September 24, 2006 entitled "Here I Stand", on the occasion of Sunday Evening Gathering, at Spring Lake Country Club . 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 Community Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4f229b7a8476be45871527d6fe3f78f4.pdf a4caff4787d102b37784b8811cbd9a88 PDF Text Text A Fool for Christ Palm Sunday Luke 19:35-44; John 12:9-19; Zechariah 9:9-10 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan April 1, 2007 When, some months ago, Tapas invited me to speak today, he reminded me that it would be April Fool’s Day and wondered if I might like to use the phrase from St. Paul – “A Fool for Christ.” I consulted the calendar and realized April 1 was also Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week on the Christian Calendar. I immediately agreed on the theme because I have always felt that in the events of this week one sees the very heart of Jesus’ ministry and one who seeks to follow the way of Jesus as it comes to expression in the events of this week must, by human or worldly standards, be a fool. We all know what a fool is but I got the dictionary out nonetheless – ...one who is lacking in reason or common powers of understanding; a person with little or no judgment, common sense or wisdom; to act in a ridiculous manner; to do silly things… Such is the definition of a fool. What has that to do with being a fool for Christ? Well, as I am using that designation on the threshold of Holy Week in the Christian Calendar, I am suggesting that from the perspective of worldly wisdom, from the perspective of common sense, to follow the way of Jesus is foolhardy because it is to live out an ethic of love, specifically of non-violent resistance to the systems and structures by which human society is ordered. It is to pursue the way of peace in a violent world – to live with compassion in a brutal world – to seek justice in a world marked by injustice – to live in love in a hostile world. And why is such a way of life the way of a fool? Simply because to live in the way of vulnerable love is to court death by the powers that be, powers of church and state, the established institutional structures by which our world is ordered and controlled. Let me be clear at the outset – 1) The Way of Jesus that beckons me has not been realized in my own life; it is an amazing ideal which draws me but which I have betrayed. © Grand Valley State University   �A Fool for Christ 2) Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In this setting I want to be very clear that the Way of Jesus is my way, my story, but not the only way, the only story – not the only dream and vision for a transformed world – but I speak out of my own tradition, grateful for a place like this where our respective stories are shared and respected – where our shared stories enrich us all in our respective journeys. With those comments made let me take you to the Palm Sunday event that is today celebrated in the Christian Church. The four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, each record the occasion of Jesus entering Jerusalem, but each has its own interpretation of the event. The Gospels, written four to six decades after the event, arose in different communities at different times and reflect the historical contexts of their communities, each community with special situations, challenges and interests as well as the perspective of the authors. When I took English Bible at Hope College, we used a harmony of the Gospels – parallel readings of the four Gospels in columns down the page. That was the result of a scholarly process that forced each Gospel with its unique angle into one consistent story. We’ve learned after serious scholarly research of the Gospels that in so doing we missed the respective nuances of the story as it was composed by various writers in various situations and historical contexts. This morning I want to focus on the accounts of John and Luke because it is my judgment that in those two portraits we see the entry into Jerusalem in the best perspective from which to understand the whole week culminating in Jesus’ crucifixion. First, John – the only account mentioning palm branches – a significant detail because the palm branch was a sign of nationalistic fervor. What is going on with the crowd and its palm branches? According to John’s picture, this is a crowd filled not so much with religious fervor as with rising nationalistic zeal. As I mentioned, only John speaks of palm branches and that is significant. Palm branches had a nationalistic association. Palms were evocative of Maccabean nationalism. As a symbol of nationalism, the palm occurred on the coins of the Second Revolt (132-135 C.E.). When Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple altar after the Syrians had profaned it (164 B.C.E.), the Jews brought palms to the temple. When Simon Maccabeus conquered the Jerusalem citadel (142 B.C.E.), the Jews took possession of it carrying palm fronds. In the Testament of Naphtahali V4, the fronds are given to Levi as a symbol of power over all Israel. In sum, John’s use of palms would seem to give to the whole scene a political overtone: Jesus being welcomed as a national liberator. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Further, the words “God bless the King of Israel,” which John has the crowd chant are not found in Psalm 118:26 from which the words, “Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!” are taken. Once before in John’s gospel (6:14-15), after Jesus fed the multitude, he realized the crowd wanted to make him king and he withdrew from them. There is little doubt that the scene John paints is intended to indicate what was going on with the crowd. They were hoping that in Jesus they had found a national liberator and they hoped that this one now entering Jerusalem was about to declare himself the King of Israel. But this was precisely not what Jesus was intending. Now he must do something to set them straight. What does he do? He seeks to dispel the crowd’s misunderstanding through a prophetic action – an action even the disciples did not understand until after his death and resurrection. The action: Jesus sat on a colt, thereby seeking to call to mind the words of Zephaniah and Zechariah. In Zechariah and Zephaniah it is the king who comes, but it is a different kind of king. Listen to the Zechariah citation: See, your king is coming mounted on an ass’s colt. If we go to that context in Zechariah, we find it is a call to Jerusalem to rejoice because its king is coming, coming mounted on an ass’s foal, to banish chariots from Ephraim and war horses from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished. The prophet’s word continues: He shall speak peaceably to every nation, and his rule shall extend from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. “Yes, Jerusalem,” Jesus seems to be saying by mounting the ass’s colt, “I am your king coming to you, but a different kind of king than you expect or desire.” Similarly, in Zephaniah we have, Fear not, O Zion,…the Lord your God is in your midst, like a warrior to keep you safe; he will rejoice over you and be glad; he will show you his love once more… In that same context the prophet cries, …be glad, rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem…the Lord is among you as King, O Israel… © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Jesus’ mounting the colt was a prophetic action, according to John. After the death and resurrection, John writes, we understood what that action was trying to say. Jesus realized that the crowd had misinterpreted the Lazarus miracle just as the crowd had misunderstood the multiplication of loaves and fishes in John 6. The raising of Lazarus was a sign that God the giver of life was visiting His people in Jesus. They should not be proclaiming him as an earthly king, but as the manifestation of the Lord their God who has come into their midst, the God of Zechariah who would bring peace to the whole world. We find this focus on peace for the world even more pronounced in Luke’s Gospel. Remember the angel’s song with which Luke portrays the birth of Jesus – “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace…” Now as Jesus approaches Jerusalem we have him arrive at the destination intended in chapter 9:5l, where Luke writes, “…he set his face to go to Jerusalem,” and the so-called “journey section” of the Gospel culminates with Jesus overlooking the city from the Mount of Olives and weeping over it – weeping because in its imminent rejection of him it could only look forward to total devastation. I find this a most moving scene and it could be spoken time and again over the course of the human story – missing the moment, missing the possibility to avoid disaster, missing the visitation of God and the things that make for peace – human blindness, human stubbornness, human pride, anger, arrogance and cussedness in the service of nationalism, obsession with power and domination, refusing the way of peace which demands humility and willingness to change, to repent, to acknowledge one has been wrong… Two portraits of Jesus on the occasion of his entry into Jerusalem, each being very clear about the intention of this one and the challenge he brought to his own people and his world. Reflect with me for a few moments about those two portraits of Jesus as he moves toward the climax of his life’s mission. The Gospels – not biography, but there is biographical data; not history, although the Gospels do deal with real historical time and place. Literally “Gospel” means good news – it is a report, a perspectus, an interpretation of historical events. In the case of our Gospels they are portraits of the founder and founding events of the Christian religion, the Christian faith tradition. And what we reflect on today – the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – no doubt has an historical core. Jesus did indeed come to Jerusalem, the center of his peoples’ religious life and their total self-understanding as a people, a people of God, of Yahweh. But did it happen as either John or Luke told the story? Probably not. Out of whatever happened a story was told as part of a larger story and a portrait was painted as part of a larger painting to reflect the impact of his life. This is what was experienced in the life of Jesus. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 5   A scholar who has worked intensively on the birth of Christianity and the Historical Jesus, John Dominic Crossan, makes what was for me a most helpful distinction between “History Remembered” and “Prophecy Historicized.” History remembered is a recounting of events as they were experienced, as they occurred. There is no such thing as an absolutely accurate recounting of historical events – point of view, angle of vision, memory all force us to speak of a relatively accurate recounting. Until the relatively recent past (during two or three decades of biblical studies), I had taken the Gospels as history remembered – but then I came to see them as prophecy historicized – meaning the Passion Narrative of the Gospels, the story that begins on Palm Sunday and moves through Easter Sunday, is created out of the sacred text of the Jews – what we traditionally call the Old Testament, the sacred text of Jesus and his contemporaries, as well as ongoing Jewish faith. I cannot begin to document that here – it is a study in its own right. I simply say that it is most remarkable that the events beginning with Jesus’ arrival at Jerusalem and unfolding through crucifixion and resurrection, are woven together out of Old Testament citations. And how were these citations selected? There was selection and I suggest the selection was make in order to create a portrait of the one whose life, ministry and message were being set forth as the way, the truth and the life. The concrete life, ministry and teaching of Jesus as experienced by those who became the Jesus Movement or the early Christian Church was told in terms of the story the gospel writer told but the citations were chosen because they reflected the way Jesus was experienced. I go into this not to call in question the respective accounts of palm Sunday; I do it to transcend questions about whether it all happened, which account is the most accurate, etc. I do it to get to the portrait itself because the portrait reflects the impression Jesus made, how he was heard and understood – the Gospel as presentation of the Good News that came to expression in the life and ministry of Jesus, the details of whose lie are lost in the cloudy fog of the past never to be totally recovered. Think with me about the portrait of Jesus as Luke and John narrate the story of Palm Sunday. And what are the contours of the message embodied in the historical life of this one coming of full expression at this critical juncture of his life? Let me suggest the following – certainly not a complete description but a dimension I find both inspiring and challenging for our world today – Jesus as an embodiment of humility and love expressed in non-violent resistance. We see it in the refusal to play to the nationalistic fervor of his contemporaries. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 6   This we see particularly in John as he tells the story: the crowd with its palm branches, symbolic of the Maccabean revolts of the second century before the Common Era – nationalism – my nation right or wrong, the lust for power and domination, the desire to be # 1, lie just beneath the surface for most of us most of the time. There were the zealots of the time of Jesus, those who were committed to throwing off the Roman yoke; those who eventually brought about the fatal collision with Roman power that left Jerusalem streets run red with the blood of the slain and the city a heap of ruins. Zealotry among an oppressed people is understandable and ultimately fatal. But zealotry is not restricted to dominated peoples; it is present as well in the nationalistic rhetoric of our own administration and shamefully of many among the religious right who even now advocate military action against Iran just as, tragically, we have engaged in the pre-emptive war with Iraq. No dove for sure, Colin Powell warned before that fateful attack, the Pottery Barn analogy “if you break it you own it.” Having created the tragic chaos in Iraq we live with the consequences and still there are political and religious voices that would have us begin anew in Iran. The imperial mindset entails endless war. That is simply the way it is. Luke wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem: Jesus’ prophecy was most likely never uttered on the Mount of Olives before he entered Jerusalem but Luke was quite right in attributing those words to him because his whole life and ministry was an effort to short-circuit the nationalistic passion that assumed it was possible means of force and military/guerilla action to find freedom and peace. This is what the portrait of John tells us. He sought to put out the nationalistic passion of the crowd whose palm branches signaled their desire for the use of force to overthrow the oppressor, for a leader who would spark a revolt to overthrow the imperial domination. In the words of Luke’s Jesus, “If you…had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes….” Was Jesus simply a weakling, fearful, cowering before the powers that be – religious, social, cultural and political, suggesting one should simply submit to unjust structures and violent oppression? Not al all; Jesus was no advocate of the status quo. It was not the human desire for freedom, justice and humane existence that he called in question. It was rather that there is only one way to peace, justice and community – it is through non-violent resistance from a posture of humility and strength. We have seen instances of such non-violent resistance that have overcome overwhelming odds: Ghandi – Martin Luther King Jr. –And that may be too © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 7   little, too rare, to convince one. Yet there is that in the human consciousness that is moved at such action and spirit. When I think, “But it can’t work on the global scale” then I realize that our present course is what does not work. A military solution is not a solution – it is a shorter or longer term stop-gap measure that will finally degenerate again into violence and war. Whether with individuals or nations, only love transforms and compassion heals and creates the possibility for peace. It is time such a claim ceases to be mere religious cliché and pulpit talk. If we live by empirical evidence that evidence lies in all the tragedy, violence, death and devastation of the entire human story. We should be able to see in the overwhelming evidence of the historical record that the human species has developed to such a point and the present human potential to destroy the human emergent world is so evident that we can no longer live by the clan and tribal ways of fear, isolation, national sovereignty and imperial dominion. War is insane. War is no longer an option. Our thinking must change! That has been true of me; my thinking that is my understanding of God and the nature of God’s action in the world has changed dramatically when first humankind lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation, I was not afraid because my understanding of God was that of the Sovereign Lord of History, the Lord God Almighty. The End was in God’s hands. But this was a sovereign God external to the creation, ruling and, on occasion, intervening. But God has become for me much more the Sacred Mystery, the Creative Center of Being who rules through the lure of love or not at all. Love persuades; love does not coerce. The human creature in the image of God can resist the lure of love and the consequences may well be the end of the human emergent world. War is no longer an option. Our thinking must change - change or we will destroy our world as surely as Jerusalem was destroyed in awful violence. And, if we stave off total devastation, we will nevertheless live in fear of destruction in the meantime. Jesus called his world to repent. In Greek metanoia is composed of two parts: meta, “to change,” nois from nous, “mind.” Jesus’ message was: “Change your mind!” © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Our thinking needs to change. And we need to experience a change of heart. I’m not sure which one must occur first. Maybe our thinking won’t change without a significant emotional experience. And such an emotional catharsis is the potential of Holy Week for those for whom the Way of Jesus is compelling. As I reflect on my own spiritual journey, my thinking has changed dramatically while at the same time I have experienced a significant emotional transformation in my experience of following Jesus and if, as I believe, Jesus was a human embodiment of God, of the Creative Mystery of Being, then I can say it is only in my latter years that I have experienced love for God. For me there has been a transformation of my thinking and my experience of God and that has come about through a fresh vision of Jesus in his full humanity in the portrait I see painted in the Gospels. Studies in research of the Historical Jesus have been important in putting Jesus in his historical context and, in the portraits painted of him in the Gospels, I have seen the amazing life of this one whose life was marked by grace, who reflected God’s unconditional love and who spoke truth to power, confronting the oppressive structures of established political and religious authority – for which he was crucified. While this fresh portrait of Jesus was making its impact on me, changing my thinking, I encountered two stories of persons whose heroic lives were the consequence of the Way of Jesus as I was coming to understand it. While studying in the Netherlands, trying to find a new theological understanding since my little system had groaned and cracked in the midst of my seven years of pastoral experience, I was struggling with trying to translate and understand contemporary Dutch and German theology. One day I picked up a little paperback, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison. It was my spiritual sustenance during those four years in Europe. In Bonhoeffer I found a contemporary disciple of Jesus who risked his life and finally gave his life in his resistance to the Nazi horror that was raging in Europe. His life, his faith, his courage so impressed me. At some point I realized what I felt for Bonhoeffer was more gripping than what I felt for Jesus. But my understanding of Jesus was changing the more I saw him fully human in his own historical context. I grew up with Jesus, Son of God, second person of the Trinity, whose atoning death was my only hope of salvation but that divine Saviour figure never really got to me in the same sense I was experiencing the life of Bonhoeffer. Finally I brought all this to expression. It was actually a Palm Sunday sermon, April 15, 1984. In that sermon I said, Jesus has no doubt been the greatest inspirer of human faith and life in the whole of human history. I have been reflecting on why his life has not been more © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 9   powerful for me. I think I understand why Bonhoeffer moved me more – or so it seems. I think it is because Bonhoeffer was of our time. He seems more human – more one of us. He took on Hitler – not the Jewish High Priest or the Roman Emperor. He was a man – just a man. But Jesus was something else. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the Church in her theological discussion has removed Jesus – the real, historical, human figure – from me. Yet the more I penetrate through the theological haze surrounding him, the more I see him for what he was. The more overwhelmed I am at the grandeur of his life, the more I am moved by his faith and commitment, the more I love him and want to be like him. It is a paradox; the more I see him in his full humanity, the more I am inclined to bow in worship before him. I concluded the sermon inviting the congregation to think about Jesus in his full humanity, confronting non-violently the domination system of his day. Maybe in our contemplating of his behavior in these days we will see the wonder of his life. Maybe we will finally break out with the exclamation, “Jesus, you are really something!” If that happens, we will be changed; we will die and be born again. If the events of this week – the magnificence of Jesus’ authentic human life, the humility that is strength, the obedience that is freedom, the self-renunciation that is the highest expression of selfhood – ever penetrate to the core of our being, then we will bow in adoring worship before him whom God has highly exalted. “Adoring worship” was probably not the strongest way to conclude but in the sermon I had cited that powerful solo sung by Mary Magdalene in the rock opera Jesus Christ, Super Star, who sings so movingly, “I don’t know how to love him.” My second story came not long after Bonhoeffer triggered fresh emotional apprehension of Jesus. I was given a book by Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, the story of a village in the French Alps. It is a story of how this mountain village, Le Chambon, defied the orders of the German Gestapo and the collaborating French Vichy government under Nazi domination during the Second World War, by sheltering refugees of all sorts, but the majority of whom were Jews. It is a gripping, moving, inspiring narrative whose center is a French Reformed pastor, Andre Trocmé. In his youth Trocmé had experienced the gruesome horror of World War I. He encountered an occupying German soldier and learned this soldier went about his duties as a telegrapher unarmed because he refused to kill – He had had a conversion experience and he believed as a follower of Jesus, he could not do © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page10   harm to another – he could not kill another human being. The German soldier said to him, “Christ taught us to love our enemies.” This encounter so deeply impacted Trocmé that for the rest of his life he lived by the imperative to do no harm to another. Trocme eventually studied theology at the University of Paris and became a French Reformed pastor. One evening in a men’s group, Trocme was discussing a book that claimed Jesus was a myth created by St. Paul. Trocmé refuted the book’s claim but found himself asking the question: If Jesus really walked upon this earth, why do we keep treating him as if he were a disembodied, impossibly idealistic ethical theory? If he was a real man, then the Sermon on the Mount was made for people on this earth; and if he existed, God has shown us in flesh and blood what goodness is for flesh-and-blood people. (p. 68) The rest of his life was a living out of the Sermon on the Mount. The events of the village of Le Chambon during the German occupation of France during World War II, the story as told by Hallie, is wonderfully moving and inspiring. I suspect what was so powerful for me was the connection between Trocmé’s total living out of the Sermon on the Mount as the catalyst for the magnificent compassion and love that was embodied in the village as it became a city of refuge. And I had not known what to do with the Sermon on the Mount in my preaching. I could not go along with certain fundamentalist claims that it represented the ethic for the kingdom age when Jesus returned and ruled on earth. But of what practical good was it in a winner-take-all world such as ours – competitive, aggressive, where nice guys come in last? And so I seldom selected my sermon texts from those passages that scholars who study the New Testament text actually are inclined to attribute to Jesus when they withhold such accreditation to much else recorded in the gospels. But I was being changed: Bonhoeffer’s heroic engagement with the Nazi darkness; Le Chambon saving hundreds of lives at their own peril; my own wrestling with the Gospel. And I am still being changed, still wondering, questioning, trying to understand the Way of Jesus in the present historical moment. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page11   That is a bit of my journey – my thinking has changed: Jesus, second person of the Trinity to Jesus, the embodiment of God in a fully human being, the embodiment of humility, compassion, grace and love who through non-violent resistance speaks truth to power in order to re-order human society in the ways of peace and justice. And I have been emotionally gripped – I love Jesus. I believe he is the way, the truth and the life and I do believe his way is the only hope for the world. And my nation is a world empire and empires can only perpetuate their imperial dominance through military might, intimidation and the arrogance of power. War is insane, but we are still on a war strategy. We have unlimited power but we have become too civilized to use it and what we cannot defeat by our power is the violence of the powerless – the terrorist who will blow him or herself up because of ideology or religious faith or because there is nothing to lose. There was a moment when the Berlin Wall fell and we were without question the one world super power, that we might have had an opportunity for a new creation. In the world of power politics you dare not let down your guard unless the biggest power on earth takes the lead. And I wonder if following 911 we had responded differently – if we had pursued the murderers as they should have been pursued by police action, but if we had called an International Conference of Nations rather than naming an Axis of Evil– hearing the plaints of the oppressed, the background of the anger of the terrorists, the hopes and fears of the powerless and the voiceless – What if we, the world’s one super power, had voluntarily put away our nuclear arms leading the nations to disarmament. Hopeless idealism? Perhaps. What’s the alternative? Don’t we have it? Don’t we see the carnage daily on our TV? And are we not really in a more dangerous world today than on 9/12? I wonder if we could transcend partisan politics, if we could gather as concerned human beings we couldn’t agree that the present policy is not working. A radical new approach is called for. What if we got a conversation going with Islam, with the Palestinians, with Israel, with China, with Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Somalia, with whoever would come to the table and we did it without the threat of our power, militarily, economically – What if as a so-called Christian nation we really took seriously the way of Jesus as the way we would be what if...? On this Palm Sunday I propose the above which, I suspect, makes me a fool for Christ, but I also suspect if someone would arise on the national scene who would © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page12   dare to propose such, he or she might be elected President in a landslide because, deep down, we know… Jesus was right. Would that he would not have died in vain. References: Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of LeChambon and How Goodness Happened There. Harper Perennial; Reprint edition, 1994. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Scripture Text Luke 19:35-44, John 12:9-19, Zechariah 9:9-10 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of LeChambon and How Goodness Happened There, 1994. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20070401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-04-01 Title A name given to the resource A Fool For Christ 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 April 1, 2007 entitled "A Fool For Christ", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Luke 19:35-44, John 12:9-19, Zechariah 9:9-10. 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 Palm Sunday Transforming Love Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/817731ed123ccc489e9dbce48c9e3aba.pdf 2f314399f474aa1545a9a5fd1e03be1b PDF Text Text   Transforming Love From the series: Stories Jesus Told Luke 7:18-50 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan September 16, 2007 Let me begin by reminding you of what I am attempting in these three presentations which I’ve titled “Stories Jesus Told.” The first last month focused on the parable of the Prodigal Son which I suggested is not about the prodigality of the son but the prodigal love of the father. Today an encounter and a story about transforming love. My purpose in centering on these stories is to discover the understanding of the nature of God they reflect – using the word God as the symbol for the Sacred Mystery at the heart of reality – Sacred Mystery, Ground of Being, Creative Source/Enlivening Presence, even, I suppose, Creative Nothingness/Emptiness. The great religious traditions have variously imaged the ultimate/the absolute. My Christian faith finds its most profound understanding of the nature of God in the incarnation – the human embodiment of God in Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And the one in whose face we see a clue to the mystery of God did not leave us a dogmatic text or a catechism; rather, Jesus told stories – stories whose purpose was to reflect the nature of God as Jesus understood the Divine nature and reality. Today’s lesson, I suggest, reveals God as Transforming Love. Let me be clear: I am selective in my use of Scripture. I take responsibility for that selection because part of my religious journey as a Christian and a minister of the Gospel has been a movement from seeing the Bible as my authority for truth, to seeing truth as my authority as I meditate on the Bible. Stated differently, my authority is truth rather than some authority being my truth. Truth – Do I claim to possess it? No, not as ultimate, absolute truth – It is truth as I understand it, as it resonates with me, with my best wisdom and insight. This is not to deny that there is Absolute Truth; it is simply to recognize no human possesses it. There will always only be a relative grasp of that Absolute. With that acknowledgement let me set the context for the story we consider today. In Luke 7 we have Jesus carrying on his healing ministry and he is being acclaimed by the people. Then in 7:18 John the Baptist appears in the narrative. John had led a popular religious renewal movement and is called the Baptist for © Grand Valley State University   �Transforming Love Richard A. Rhem Page 2   he called people to be baptized as a sign of repentance and renewal before what he believed would be the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God. John was apocalyptic. He expected the end of the age. He was looking for God to send a messenger (Messiah – anointed one) who could usher in the end time when God would vindicate the righteous and pour out God’s wrath on the wicked. John was expecting, in the parlance of the Hebrew prophet, “that great and terrible day of the Lord.” And John couldn’t wait. It seems he had hoped Jesus was that one who was to come. But now, in prison because he had the temerity to condemn the court scandal of King Herod, he hears of the ministry of Jesus – Good news of the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom all right, but good news and grace to all and healing – a ministry of inclusion for all people. And John is confused and disappointed – hoping for fire and judgment, John hears of grace and healing. And so he sends his disciple to Jesus with the burning question for John: Are you the one who is to come or do we look for another? Oh, can’t you feel the urgency, the pathos of that question for John! His whole life project is at stake. Had he got the wrong person? Had he misunderstood the times in which he lived? Was he wrong about God’s program? The disciples of John come to Jesus and they pose the question. In a positive and gracious way Jesus responds. He doesn’t answer the question as such. He simply says, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them, and blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.” The citations of the dimension of Jesus’ ministry are taken from the Hebrew prophets but those who spoke of healing, not apocalypse. When John’s disciples left, Jesus spoke to the crowd about John. He affirmed him as a great prophet. Jesus himself had begun as part of the movement of John the Baptist but at some point he left and went on his own and he fashioned quite a different ministry. But nonetheless, he honored John as a great prophet. Then in a parenthesis Luke tells us that the very religious authorities, the Temple establishment, that were offended at Jesus and grumbled about his inclusion of all and his refusing to follow the purity codes that determine who was in and who was out, had also rejected John’s ministry. That brings us to the occasion for the story we examine today. The Occasion: © Grand Valley State University �Transforming Love Richard A. Rhem Page 3   A religious leader – a Pharisee named Simon – wanted to know Jesus firsthand so he could judge for himself whether this one causing such a stir was a genuine religious teacher, a prophet as claimed, or just another messianic pretender of which there were plenty – another charismatic religious figure who would flame up and soon burn out. And so he invited Jesus to a dinner party. We need not attribute sinister motives to Simon. Let’s assume it was an honest effort to judge Jesus for himself. And there it happened. Unlike our dinner parties in the privacy of our homes, the Middle Eastern home had an open courtyard where folks could wander in and then it wasn’t that unusual for some even to sit along the wall of the inner home and listen to the conversation. On this occasion a woman of the street or lady of the night entered. Seeing Jesus whom she must have seen before – a time when somehow he gave her dignity and humanity – she lost it – emotion burst forth. She intended to give him a sign of love and respect for she brought a flask of ointment. What she did instead was the bursting forth of emotion – tears falling on his feet – letting down her hair never done in public by respectable women but an action she had mastered. She wipes his feet with her hair and anointed them with the ointment. Such a display of love and emotion was precisely what never happened at the house of a Pharisee. It was all quite embarrassing and disconcerting for Simon, the host, but at least he accomplished the purpose of the dinner engagement – he knew now that Jesus was indeed no prophet, for a prophet would have known what sort of woman this was fondling his feet – a sinner with whom the righteous would have nothing to do. And it was just at that point that Jesus spoke saying he was indeed a prophet able to read the musing of the other’s mind – and this brings us to the story. The Story: And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he said, “Teacher, say it.” “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” © Grand Valley State University �Transforming Love Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” And He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” (Luke 7:40f The Teaching: I like the King James version in this instance because I want to use the characterization of the two debtors – both having “nothing to pay” – and turn it around from the human obligation before God to the requirement of God – which is “nothing to pay.” In the context and story what we have is the contrast between: 1. Jesus/John – A Kingdom of Grace/ A Kingdom of Judgment: John’s threat and appeal, but Jesus’ reflecting a gracious God who says you have nothing to pay; 2. The religious institution with its delineation of who is in and who is out, its exclusionary justice dividing the righteous and the unrighteous– and – Jesus whose attitude, spirit and behavior was open to all conveying grace to all who, self-aware, knew they needed forgiveness and acceptance and allowed themselves to be embraced by grace. Aware of need, receiving forgiveness and acceptance, the response is transformation and the image of God in the story is of a God whose love transforms. Love changes a person – Law may control; Fear can cripple; Power coerce; © Grand Valley State University �Transforming Love Richard A. Rhem Page 5   but Love transforms. Application: If, as I believe, the Christian tradition sees Jesus as the human mirror of the nature of God then that mirror reflects a God who says you have nothing to pay – all your religious duties, obligations and demands are baggage placed on the single truth that you are loved for no other reason than that it is my nature to love and, when you get it, you will be transformed and love in response. Overwhelmed by grace the dam of emotion breaks and love pours out in light of such love that transforms, that changes and frees. Finally let me come back to the issue I raised in the first presentation. This, I believe, is a faithful rendering of the nature of God as imaged in the stories Jesus told and indeed in his whole behavior to the end. But is this also the nature of reality? If God is the Ground of Being, the Eternal Creative Source of All, is Love at the center? Does the God Jesus mirrors match the Creative Source of Cosmic Reality? Let me suggest that the cosmic drama of 13.7 billion years has eventuated in the likes of us – self-conscious beings able to ask such a question and if we can wonder about such a question are we not also the very means by which the cosmic process, the human story, can be shaped? Has not the cosmic drama come into our hands? Do we not face a choice as to what future will emerge? Look at our world – in the grip of imperial designs as we seek dominance globally, accomplished by military might and intimidation. We may have enough power at present to keep the lid on, enforce our will, put down all resistance but seething beneath the surface is violence and anger that at any time can explode and bring apocalypse. Maybe Jesus was just a dreamer, a visionary, impractical when it comes to the affairs of nations. But look at the chaos we have created. What if one should arise to lead who would give love a chance – because only love transforms. It works one to one, why not people to people? Could we be on the way to a future shaped by love and grace that alone can transform the human family and create a global community of justice and peace? © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Series Stories Jesus Told Scripture Text Luke 7: 18-50 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges 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-0-20070916 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-09-16 Title A name given to the resource Transforming 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 16, 2007 entitled "Transforming Love", as part of the series "Stories Jesus Told", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Luke 7: 18-50. 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 Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/db1dc5c8893d47256131cd777175dfe6.pdf c932866a06d1f39eacf89b95925c9f9d PDF Text Text Unruly Grace From the series: Stories Jesus Told Matthew 20: 1-16 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan October 28, 2007 My theme these three presentations has been Stories Jesus Told with the purpose of discovering what the stories reflect about the nature of God. Parables should be heard to catch their major point and should not be pressed in all their details. I think in the stories I’ve chosen it is faithful to the heart of the stories/parables to read off from them Jesus’ understanding of the mystery of God and that has been the focus of my study of these stories. The nature of God as it comes to expression in the stories Jesus told – that has been my purpose. In doing so I reflect as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, the way of Jesus. But I’ve enjoyed doing it so much in this setting – an interfaith gathering place where we seek to be true to our respective faith traditions but have opportunity to be enriched by other traditions and the unique insights and perspectives each brings. In my previous two discussions and again this morning I am inviting you to reflect with me on the Nature of the Sacred Mystery – Jesus being the stimulus, the catalyst, but not so much to instruct you in the Christian understanding as to invite you to reflect with me on the mystery we will never fathom. When we speak of God as Mystery, we use the term not as a mystery novel where finally the mystery is unraveled or solved. God as mystery indicates a reality beyond our human capacity to comprehend. That is not an obvious truth. Given all the words we speak, all the sermons preached, all the volumes written – one might get the impression we know a great deal about God. We preachers are probably the greatest deniers of God as Mystery – we often give the impression that we are quite well informed as to the nature of the Mystery that is God, but that is a false impression. Whether dogmatically orthodox or radically liberal, whether Christian or Muslim or Jewish, whether Buddhist, Hindu or Jain – all God talk is a probing of a mystery that cannot be fully grasped – at best a relative apprehension of the Ultimate – and that of course is why the exclusive claims to the faith, for example, of a Christian tradition are both arrogant and ignorant. And yet the massive human endeavor we speak of as religion/ the religious quest/ religious observance/ religious behavior – witnesses to the manifestation of the Sacred Mystery in our human experience. There is, I believe, an insatiable hunger © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Title Richard A. Rhem Page 2   and thirst for communion and/or union with God, with the Mystery that is the origin, ground and goal of all that is. Certainly there are those who deny that to be the case for themselves and there are those who write the religious quest off as a carryover from the age of superstition that, for thinking folk, is being replaced by critical rationality and scientific endeavor. But the religious sense of awe and wonder remains for the vast majority of humankind even when the critical faculties are engaged. Why is reflection on the nature of the sacred mystery important? Beyond the fact that it seems simply part of being human to wonder about the nature of God, I would suggest such a quest is important because human behavior tends to reflect the image of God one carries in one’s being – one’s mind and heart. We tend to emulate the Ultimate Reality we conceive. We reflect our understanding of the nature of God or of reality in our behavior – in our attitudes and actions. I am a Christian first of all because I was born into a Christian family and tradition. Over a long pilgrimage I have come to see my tradition in the context of the great religions. I affirm my Christian faith but not uncritically. I reject any claim to absolute revealed truth or exclusive claim to the mediation of God’s salvation. The dimension of the Christian tradition – the New Testament particularly – that I find most profound is the claim of the Incarnation – God in the human –specifically in the humanity of Jesus, but not only in Jesus – rather the human becoming of God and thus the God embodied in the human, again in Jesus for Christian faith. In the face of Jesus I see the heart of God. In his total life, in his words and deeds, I see God revealed. I chose the way of Jesus as the path I would follow – always poorly – and, in these Sunday mornings, as an invitation to reflect on the Nature of God. So let me return to my purpose after that lengthy parenthesis – I am inviting you to reflect with me on the nature of God and, I can even say, the Nature of Reality, from the understanding of Jesus as it comes to expression in the stories he told. The first story – The Prodigal Son, which I suggested was really a story about the Prodigal Love of the Father where salty tears drowned out a returning son’s carefully crafted speech of apology and request – God/Reality as Prodigal Love. And then the second story of the woman of the night who entered the Pharisee’s dinner party and wept over Jesus’ feet, evidence that at some point he had touched her life, accorded her human dignity and a sense of worth. She was transformed by love and loved in return – transforming love. For the story Jesus told of two debtors who had nothing to pay and were freely forgiven – Jesus asked the Pharisee, Simon, which one would love most and he said rightly, the one who was forgiven most – © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Title Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Transforming Love. We turn now to the third story which I am entitling “Unruly Grace”. Grace is simply love in action. Jesus’ stories have portrayed the nature of God as love and that love moving out to the world to a person, a community, is Grace. The prosaic definition we often use is “undeserved favor” – but I like “love in action”. And love in action is unruly. I like that word in this connection – it is a surprising combination – unruly usually carries a negative connotation – an unruly child, an unruly guest, etc. – one not playing by the rules: rules of fairness, rules of contracts, rules that structured social relations. That is what today’s story is about. Matthew 20:1-16 is a story Jesus used to make the point of the startling statement in the previous chapter that human salvation was an impossible human achievement: The rich young man – What do I lack? Sell all… Disciples: “Who can be saved?” Human impossibility – But with God (only with God), salvation is possible because it is Gift. The Parable: Matthew 20:1-16 A landowner hires workers to work his fields. It is 6:00 a.m. They contract – a day’s wage for a day’s labor. But he needs more workers and so returns to the “unemployed laborer pool” at 9:00, noon, 3:00 and 5:00 p.m., each time finding laborers looking for work and sending them to his fields without contract, assuring them only to pay whatever was right. When evening arrived the workers returned for their pay. The landowner instructed his manager to pay them all a day’s wage beginning with those hired last. When those hired first – at 6:00 a.m.– got a day’s wage – as they had agreed when they were hired –, they grumbled because those who came later got the same amount. They protested, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. Their complaint wasn’t that those hired at 5:00 p.m. got a day’s wage but only that they didn’t receive more – “you made them equal to us!” If, before you hear this story in terms of God as the householder and you take it as a human story, with whom do you identify? Don’t you tend to join the first hires in their grumbling? It isn’t fair after all. Is not the mantra of the women’s movement, equal pay for equal work, relevant? Isn’t there something that offends our sense of justice? But think about it… © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Title Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Take the householder’s final word: “Are you envious because I’m generous?” It was the generosity of the householder that the workers resented. He had fulfilled his word. The contract mutually agreed on was honored. But those whose contract was fulfilled were offended by the householder’s grace. And this surprising fact has profound relevance for religious understanding, observance, practice. Again, remember the context – Who can be saved? Jesus’ answer: No one through human effort of whatever kind Religion based on the Performance Principle Does not save, does not achieve Peace with God. In my particular faith family background this is Reformation Sunday, the last Sunday in October. Martin Luther in 1517 nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, protesting the practices of his Roman Catholic Church that had a full set of observances, practices, and requirements through which the church mediated God’s saving grace, and in the 16th century the system had become very corrupt. Luther was one of those persons who suffered from an accusing conscience – He found no peace, try as he may, punish and pummel himself as he did. In anguish he performed and performed and performed some more. Going to his Confessor, the Confessor said, “Martin, you must love God”, to which Luther responded, “Love God? I hate God!” The agony of Luther has been played out again and again, over and over. There is that about us human beings that wonders about God, desires peace, union, communion with God. Whatever the roots of religion in the human are – fear, guilt, wonder, intuitive sense of the sacred – there is the felt need to be put right with God or the Ultimate Order of the Universe. And it just seems natural that we must find a way to achieve that being right with God. And there is the rub – We can’t achieve it. We don’t need to achieve it. It is given fully by a gracious God – Who plays by no rules – Unruly Grace you see! The nature of the Sacred Mystery, of God, of the Real is Love expressed as Grace for creation and all creation’s children. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Title Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Isn’t that quite amazing when you think of all the religions and all the religious observances and practices? Isn’t it just human/quite natural to assume on the basis of being right with the Universe, with the Ultimate, with God would be some sort of performance? And has not the institutional form of the respective religions reinforced that natural tendency What do I lack? What must I do? And the institutional religions are on guard against any suggestion that there is a Grace that transcends them all, with nothing to do. I found that out… The RCA Minister of Evangelism was scandalized and very critical of my suggestion of universal Grace. He said, “If that’s true, I might as well sell used cars.” The Prodigal’s well-rehearsed speech about what he would do to earn a bunk in the servants’ quarters was simply drowned out by the father’s loving embrace. The two debtors of Jesus’ story in Luke 7, both owing different amounts, both had nothing to pay and were both fully forgiven. And in this story the first hires are given their due while all the rest are simply graced by the householder’s generosity. Kristen Stendahl suggests Matthew was writing to a Jewish-Jesus community that was beginning to receive non-Jews – Gentiles – into the community and how would they be received? As second-rate Christians? You mean, some must have said, that we who are the products of generations of faithful covenant membership have no advantage over these Gentiles coming in out of pagan darkness? Jesus’ story says – That’s right because nobody earns salvation – there is no performance principle, no merit system. God’s unruly grace relativizes all human observance/ practice/ behavior. Well, then why do we engage in religious observance? Hopefully because we find meaning and fulfillment in that observance. Hopefully our religious practice is an end in itself giving wisdom, insight, peace and joy and the experience of being in the Presence of the Holy. And for some of us the experience of community – community where our best selves are confirmed and encouraged, where our © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Title Richard A. Rhem Page 6   insights are tested and our horizons broadened – a community where compassion finds expression and serving finds opportunity. Once we are touched by Grace, transformed by Grace, all coercive, obsessive religion evaporates and we are transformed. In a beautiful writing by Paul Tillich, “You are accepted”, I find this expressed: It strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as though a voice were saying, “You are accepted. You are accepted.” Accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now. Perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now. Perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything. Do not perform anything. Do not intend anything. Simple accept the fact that you are accepted. If that happens to us, we experience grace. Salvation – do we need to be saved? That word has much baggage with it and is used so differently. Do we need to be saved? Yes, if salvation is understood as its root suggests – as healing. We bring as much baggage with us ourselves and most of us manage to mess up our lives at some point – and then, trying harder doesn’t really help. Finally there is nothing we can do. But the Word of Grace is healing – that is salvation – issuing in peace and joy. So is the universe/ ultimate reality full of Grace? This is the understanding of Jesus according to the stories he told – In a word, he said God is like that… And if I hear that and trust that and entrust myself to such a Reality, such a Sacred Mystery, I will act in kind, and if all who would encounter such Grace were to act it out would we not create the reality we trust in, the reality we live. All religious traditions have their own take on this and I’m not knowledgeable as to how such Unruly Grace would translate in other religious traditions but this is what I find in Jesus and that’s why I chose to follow his way – poorly to be sure – but seriously. © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Series Stories Jesus Told Scripture Text Matthew 20:1-16 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges 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-0-20071028 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-10-28 Title A name given to the resource Unruly Grace 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 October 28, 2007 entitled "Unruly Grace", as part of the series "Stories Jesus Told", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Matthew 20:1-16. 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 2007 Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/23d005275872c83d6ecf62142a0718e2.pdf ff273c3f1ed2bbfca789b42fcb38e45e PDF Text Text A Final Act of Grace Sunday Potluck Richard A. Rhem Grand Haven Community Center Grand Haven, Michigan May 4, 2008 Prepared Text of the sermon   Returning  home  from  Florida  on  February  5,  we  entered  the  home  of  our  kids,  Lynn   and  Keith  Mast,  as  the  telephone  rang.  It  was  a  call  from  Gerry  Rodarmer,  saying   that  Sam  Bacon  had  died  that  day  and  Janet  was  trying  to  get  hold  of  me  to  conduct   Sam’s  funeral.  A  few  days  later,  Feb.  10,  Don  Nagtzaam  died  .  On  March  19  Roger   Vander  Meulen  died.  On  April  15  Allen  Ruiter  died.  In  the  meantime  I  spoke  at  a   memorial  gathering  for  John  Nemenye,  who  was  loosely  related  to  CCC.  From   February  to  April,  I  have  conducted  five  funerals  for  CCC  members.  And,  in   preparing  those  services,  I  gained  some  insight  into  the  reason  we  are  here  today.  I   hope  as  I  relate  the  experience  of  preparing  for  and  conducting  those  services,  I   might  enable  us  all  to  understand  why  we  are  here  today  and  hopefully  enable  us  to   move  on  to  a  positive  and  joyful  future.       I  suspect  we  have  present  today  persons  in  various  relationships  to  CCC.  Most  of   you,  I  suspect,  no  longer  are  part  of  that  community;  some  of  you  are;  some  of  you   are  still  trying  to  figure  out  where  you  are.  So  hear  me  as  I  tell  a  tale  of  four  funerals.      As  those  of  you  know  who  have  been  at  a  number  of  the  funerals  I’ve  conducted,  I   weave  into  one  a  eulogy  and  a  biblical  message.  I  always  try  to  set  the  person  forth   as  they  were  in  the  context  of  a  collage  of  Scripture,  finding  in  Scripture  something   that  marked  the  person  and  is  also  a  ground  of  hope  and  source  of  comfort.      In  the  case  of  Sam  Bacon  and  Roger  Vander  Meulen,  it  was  the  time  of  their  deaths   that  gave  me  a  clue  as  to  how  to  proceed.      Sam  died  on  “Fat  Tuesday,”  the  climax  of  Mardi  Gras,  the  day  before  Ash   Wednesday.  The  funeral  three  days  later  was  at  the  beginning  of  Lent.  I  thought  of   the  passage  in  Genesis  2  where  God  takes  a  scoop  of  earth  and  forms  the  man,   breathing  into  him  the  breath  of  life  and  then  the  disobedience  in  Genesis  3  and  the   sentence  on  the  guilty  couple  –  “Dust  thou  art  and  to  dust  thou  shalt  return”  –  the   words  we  speak  over  each  worshiper  on  Ash  Wednesday  as  we  apply  the  ashes  on   the  forehead.  Sam  and  Janet  came  to  us  from  Fountain  Street  and  I  had  one  of   Duncan’s  favorite  poems,  “This  Quiet  Dust”,  which  seemed  to  put  it  all  in  context.   © Grand Valley State University   �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 2    Roger  Vander  Meulen  died  during  Holy  Week  –  the  pain  of  loss  and  grieving   appropriate  for  the  solemnity  and  darkness  of  that  annual  observance.  But  his   funeral  was  on  Easter  Monday.  Again  it  was  the  observance  of  the  Christian  year   that  created  the  context  –  again  I  used  Genesis  2:4  –  Dust  –  God’s  act  of  creation  and   the  promise  to  dust  thou  shalt  return.  But  now  it  was  Easter  Monday.  I  turned  to  St.   Paul  in  the  great  Resurrection  Chapter  15  of  First  Corinthians.  Paul  struggled  to   bring  to  expression  his  assurance  of  resurrection  –  Flesh  and  blood  (or  dust)  is   mortal  and  the  mortal  cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom.  The  mortal  must  put  on   immortality.  I  told  the  story  of  the  butterfly  emerging  from  the  caterpillar  whose   immune  cells  fight  the  new  imaginal  cells  –  fighting,  as  it  were,  the  transformation   into  the  new  form,  and  are  finally  overcome  as  the  butterfly  emerges  –  a  creature  no   longer  fated  to  crawl  on  earth  but  gaining  wings  to  fly!       I  need  not  go  on  with  Paul’s  claim.  I  cite  the  services  of  Sam  and  Roger  to  illustrate   how  much  the  annual  observance  of  the  Christian  Year  provides  the  context  for  our   life  and  our  death  –  How  meaningful  to  work  with  the  ancient  observance  to  bring   meaning  to  life  and  death.  There  is  a  framework  within  which  we  have  lived  our   lives  and  which  gives  insight  into  death.       I  turn  now  to  the  funerals  of  Don  and  Allen.  Different  as  they  were,  there  was  that   which  was  the  same  though  manifested  in  different  ways.  Don  did  beautiful   cabinetry  work  throughout  the  church  –  every  room  contains  some  sign  of  his  skill   and  devotion.  And  every  Sunday  in  the  choir  –  loving  the  creation  of  beautiful  music   and  liturgy.      Allen  loved  the  church  as  well  –  was  faithful  in  worship  and  for  years  set  the  Lord’s   Table.  For  these  two  I  am  reminded  of  the  Psalmist’s  love  for  Jerusalem,  for  the   Temple,  for  the  altar  –  the  place  of  special  manifestation  of  the  Presence  of  God.       Psalm  42:3  and  Psalm  84  come  to  mind.  In  Psalm  42,  the  poet  is  in  a  situation  of   exile,  longing  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord.  He  carries  on  a  dialogue  in  his  soul:       Why  are  you  cast  down,  my  soul....     Hope  in  God;  I  will  yet  praise  him,    my  help  and  my  God.     O  send  out  your  light  and  your  truth;    Let  them  lead  me,     let  them  bring  me  to  your  Holy  Hill.   ..then  I  will  go  to  the  altar  of  God,     my  exceeding  joy.       Psalm  84  is  a  song  of  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem:       How  lovely  is  your  dwelling  place,     O  Lord  of  Hosts     © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 3   My  soul  longs,  indeed  it  faints  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord;     my  heart  and  my  flesh  sing  for  joy    to  the  living  God.       “I  would  rather  be  a  doorkeeper,”  or,  as  someone  has  translated  the  phrase  –  “linger   at  the  threshold.”      The  people  of  Israel  knew  God  was  present  everywhere,  but  Jerusalem  was  special   –  a  place  set  apart,  a  place  where  the  symbolism,  the  ministries  of  the  Temple,  the   Holy  of  Holies  were  –  and  their  whole  faith  and  devotion  longed  to  be  there.     That  is  the  tale  of  four  funerals.  Why  do  I  recap  those  services?  Because  of  a   profound  insight  that  overwhelmed  me.  It  wasn’t  really  something  I  hadn’t  known   before;  but  it  was  as  if  what  I  really  knew  struck  me  with  clarity.       In  the  case  of  Sam  and  Roger,  it  was  the  annual  observance  of  the  Christian  Year.  In   the  case  of  Don  and  Allen,  it  was  the  sacred  space  itself  –  the  literal  place  where  we   gathered  replete  with  the  symbolism  of  our  Christian  observance,  that  was  the  focus   –  the  place  of  praise,  celebration,  worship,  liturgy  and  prayer.     And  it  struck  me:  This  is  what  we  have  lost.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  we  grieve.  We   grieve  because  we  have  lost  the  observances  and  the  sacred  place  that  framed  our   daily  lives.  And  it  is  painful;  we  have  experienced  a  death  of  sorts.       Now,  lest  I  be  misunderstood,  let  me  be  very  clear  that  I  am  well  aware  that  what  we   shared  together  in  community  was  a  human  creation.       It  was  in  July  of  2000  that  I  preached  a  sermon  entitled  “Religion  Made  on  Earth”.   That  sermon  was  not  the  beginning  of  an  understanding  but  the  conclusion  of  a  path   we  had  been  journeying  on  for  a  long  time:  “Religion  is  a  human  phenomenon,  and   what  I  want  to  say  this  morning  in  this  first  message  is  very  simple,  but  if  you  really   hear  me,  it’s  very  radical.  You  won’t  hear  it  often  in  church,  but  I  believe  that  it  is   simple  and  it  is  true:  religion  is  made  on  earth;  it  is  a  human  construct.  Religion   didn’t  fall  ready-­‐made  from  heaven.  There  is  no  absolute  religion  with  God’s  stamp   on  it  as  over  against  all  of  the  other  religions  practiced  by  the  diversity  of   humankind.  All  religion  is  made  on  earth  and  is  a  human  construct.     One  might  ask,  ‘Well,  isn’t  it  true?’      Is  a  sunset  true:  Is  a  poem  true?  Of  course,  it’s  true.  It  is  true  in  the  sense  that  it  puts   us  in  communion  with  God.  It  satisfies  the  hunger  of  our  heart.  It  elicits  from  us   what  is  noble  and  best.  It  gives  us  a  reason  for  being.  It  gives  us  a  hope.  It  enables  us   to  go  on  to  tomorrow.  Of  course,  it’s  true.  But  religion  is  not  true  in  the  sense  that  a   chemical  formula  is  true,  not  in  the  sense  that  the  hard  stuff  of  the  natural  sciences   is  true.  It  is  not  empirical  and  verifiable.  Religion  is  a  judgment  call.  Religion  is  a   © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 4   choice.  Religion  is  a  response  to  a  story.  It  is  engagement  in  worship  and   community;  it  is  the  following  of  a  way  of  life.  Religion  can  be  good  or  less  good,  but   not  true  or  false  in  a  sense  in  which  we  deal  with  true  and  false  in  a  world  marked   by  the  scientific  method,  empirical  investigation.  No,  religion  is  a  human  construct   and  all  of  them  alike  are  made  on  earth.       With  that  recognition  on  our  part  that  it  was  not  the  case  that  we  had  found  God’s   stamp  and  our  worship  was  a  direct  translation  of  heaven’s  worship,  what  we   claimed  was  only  that  this  was  our  story  and  our  way:  mining  the  rich  treasures  of  the   Christian  Church,  we  found  a  meaningful  way  through  liturgy,  sacrament,  symbol   and  aesthetic  expression  to  come  into  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Mystery,  the  Mystery   of  God.      And  we  did  it  well!  Meaningful  liturgy  gathered  around  the  church  year,  intelligent   interpretation  of  the  biblical  story  while  re-­‐imagining  the  faith  for  our  time,   exultant,  aesthetically  uplifting  experience  in  music  and  other  artistic  expression.  It   was  quite  wonderful  really  –  the  moving  experience  of  transcendence  that  lifted  us   out  of  ourselves  to  experience  the  sacred  mystery.  No  one  was  more  responsible  for   the  beautiful  offerings  week  after  week  than  our  Mr.  Bryson  whose  gifts  would  have   made  Riverside  Church  in  New  York  City  proud,  and  the  whole  pastoral  team  made   their  contribution.      But  it  was  not  either  true  or  false,  right  or  wrong.  It  was  our  chosen  way;  it  lifted  us   into  the  presence  of  the  Mystery  that  is  God.       And  again:  it  is  no  more.  There  has  been  a  death  and  we  grieve.  A  death  because  that   experience  week  by  week,  season  by  season,  year  in  and  year  out  shaped  us  –   spiritual  formation  we  name  it  –  at  the  core  of  our  being  we  are  deeply  imprinted  by   scripture,  song,  liturgy,  symbol,  the  sacrament.  These  observances  have  formed  us   and  put  us  in  touch  with  life’s  ultimate  mystery  and  meaning.       But,  if  we  claim  only  that  what  we  had  was  our  chosen  way,  the  obverse  of  that  is   that  now  there  is  another  chosen  way  being  practiced,  and  it  is  not  right  or  wrong;  it   is  different.  Rather  than  mining  the  rich  veins  of  Christian  tradition,  there  is  the   incorporation  of  other  traditions  and  an  intentional  emphasis  on  current  social   issues  –  There  is  an  intelligent  address  of  issues  that  for  us  were  the  subject  of   Perspectives  and  Wednesday  Adult  Education  –  but  not  centered  in  the  corporate   worship  experience.  And  attempting  to  be  simply  descriptive,  I  would  point  out   there  is  little  experience  of  worship,  nor  is  that  desired.  Being  lost  in  wonder,  love   and  praise  is  not  the  intended  end.       This  is  not  wrong;  it  is  different.  And  that  is  where  the  community  has  moved  and   having  moved  there,  it  is  not  of  interest  to  me  because  it  lacks  the  reason  I  worship  –   to  have  my  being  inspired  and  lifted  into  the  presence  of  the  Holy.  And  that  is   approached  differently;  it  doesn’t  work  for  me.  There  is  a  loss;  I  must  simply   © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 5   acknowledge  that.  That  is  why  we  are  here  this  morning,  gathering  with  others  who   have  likewise  experienced  that  loss  –  a  kind  of  death.       As  a  group  you  have  gone  through  stages:  At  first  there  was  anger.  That  is   understandable  even  if  it  is  not  helpful  and  is  finally  self-­‐destructive.  Some  of  you   were  part  of  a  committee  that  approached  the  Board  of  Trustees  with  your  concerns   but  received  no  real  empathy.  There  was  no  constructive  dialogue.       And  there  have  been  various  attempts  to  see  if  something  new  might  arise.  But  that   has  had  its  problems.  This  group  isn’t  easily  satisfied.  We  really  had  it  all  and  that   will  not  be  easily  re-­‐created.       And  we  have  given  our  lives,  our  energy,  our  treasure  over  many  years.  For  most  of   us  the  idea  of  beginning  again  is  forbidding.       Finally,  here  we  are  because  we  long  for  community  –  and,  since  all  we  can  salvage   are  ongoing  networks  of  friends  who  share  a  story,  a  history,  an  experience  of  God,   that  still  is  the  center  of  our  lives.      I  told  you  the  tale  of  four  funerals  because  it  became  so  powerfully  clear  to  me  why   we  grieved.  We  have  sustained  a  great  loss  and  it  is  not  going  to  be  re-­‐created.  We   have  experienced  a  loss  of  what  was,  what  we  loved  and  is  no  more  –  what  will  not   come  back.       And  what  do  we  do  with  our  grief?  We  celebrate  life,  we  remember,  we  give  thanks   and  we  go  on.  But,  perhaps  for  our  own  spiritual  well  being,  there  is  one  more  thing   we  need  to  do  –  one  final  act  of  Grace.       Celebrating  what  was,  what  was  shared  in  community,  remembering  with  joy,  we   will  heal.  But  finally  the  confirmation  of  all  that  we  experienced  will  be  evidenced  to   the  extent  we  can  bless  and  affirm  that  ongoing  community  that  takes  new  shape   and  form.       A  new  community  is  forming.  New  directions  are  being  forged.  Positive  engagement   with  the  ongoing  societal  structures  and  cultural  movements  is  happening.  New   people  are  finding  a  spiritual  home  and  many  who  shared  years  of  experience  with   us  are  being  blessed  and  challenged  in  new  ways.       All  of  that  we  affirm  without  denial  of  our  loss.  But  as  we  affirm  we  will  heal  and   find  our  way  however  that  may  emerge.       It  is  to  a  final  act  of  grace  that  I  call  you  in  the  confidence  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 Sunday Social Gathering Location The location of the interview Grand Haven Community Center 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-0-20080504 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-05-04 Title A name given to the resource A Final Act of Grace 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 May 4, 2008 entitled "A Final Act of Grace", on the occasion of Sunday Social Gathering, at Grand Haven Community Center. 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 Community of Faith Practice of Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/384a27df4b20d81730ae7c095d9b40fb.pdf fd99db3f702022f96e129766ec1a1527 PDF Text Text Your Elephant Is Showing… Pottawattomie Park Potluck Picnic Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 23, 2008 Prepared text of the Talk No, this is not about your Republican Party affiliation if that be the case with you. Your Elephant is the total package that makes you you except for your reason – your faculty of critical rationality. I am over my head here…but this is a picnic and I hope this can be fun for us to examine our assumptions, prejudices, and deeply held beliefs as we negotiate life’s journey. It may be especially interesting for us, many of whom have experienced a disruption in the pattern of our spiritual life and practice over the past four years and find ourselves in the midst of a political campaign that began in a much too lengthy primary season and now is heating up as we move toward the party conventions. • • • • • • • • How have I come to be the person I am? How have my religious beliefs been formed and how deeply do I hold them? Why am I a Republican, Democrat or Independent and how do I respond to the political discussion? What do I think and feel about nation and the rapidly emerging global community? Do I hope the U.S. maintains superiority – the imperial power? Is that nationalism? And isn’t nationalism especially dangerous in the global community? Or, in our emerging global reality, don’t we have to begin to form world government? And then, finally, what impact on my political, social, and economic views does Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount have? Or, more broadly, am I shaped as a follower of Jesus with implications for my political, social, and economic views or is my religious life a thing apart from the nitty, gritty of my world? © Grand Valley State University   �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I have been frustrated by these questions over the past couple of years. My valued conversation partner has been Peter Hart who has been pursuing an investigation of the make-up of the brain as it has evolved in the emergence of the human being. One of the critical areas of research and reflection in the last years has been the relationship of the brain and human consciousness. The brain has been called a meaty computer – and some would reduce the human being to chemicals and electrical circuits – all a purely physical phenomenon. But what of human consciousness? What of our capacity to transcend the purely physical reality in awareness, in social relationship, in spiritual experience? You won’t be surprised that I believe we are more than the totality of blood, nerves and neurons. Obviously I would affirm that “added plus” of spiritual being. However, I have been very interested in how the physical make-up of the human being – and particularly the brain – has evolved and how one’s attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and prejudices are shaped by the physical underpinning of the spirit or mind. One of the things that I learned from Duncan Littlefair was the amazing fact that matter has given rise to spirit. Here we are, creatures who live with awe and wonder, and ,if we be religious, with reverence and gratitude and the spiritual dimension which has been birthed from matter. Matter has given birth to that which transcends the material. Again, let me be honest: I am over my head here; I have only an inkling of what I am trying to express, but my point is that the material that has birthed the mind/consciousness/spirit is still immensely engaged in the determining of the human being’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs and commitments. That is where the Elephant comes in. In an interesting book, The Happiness Hypothesis, Jonathan Haidt uses a most interesting metaphor to describe the mind/body relationship. Picture an elephant with a human rider on its back holding the reins. The Rider is our Reason – our rational capacity. The Elephant is our whole physical being – nerves, hormones, emotions, etc. that make up our total being. Haidt writes: Like a rider on the back of an elephant, the conscious, reasoning part of the mind has only limited control of what the elephant does. (p. xi) The metaphor is a vivid representation of the relationship of our conscious, rational selves as we struggle with our unconscious biological, neurological structure that is the Elephant upon which we are perched. We pride ourselves on being rational, thoughtful, conscious persons. And some of the time we are thoughtful, mindful, civil, rational, decent creatures. We take up © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the reins and guide the elephant in paths of righteousness, love, compassion and civility. But then something happens that goads the elephant, prods the beast and then the beast will demonstrate a mind of its own and our sane, deliberate reasonable response is washed away by the power and strength of our accumulated evolutionary past which finds place in our being. Suddenly the Elephant shows itself. (Note: the Rider is not separate from the Elephant in the metaphor – Rider and Elephant are one.) When all is calm and collected, the Rider (or Reason) guides the whole. When the Elephant is challenged/threatened/cornered, the reasoning part, the Rider, doesn’t have a prayer. Haidt’s book goes on to describe the development of the brain, its respective parts as they developed in our long evolutionary past and I am not going into that. I have not the competence to do that, nor is that my purpose. I am using the metaphor and that to which it points to talk with you about the issues I mentioned above in order to prod you to ask yourself some interesting questions about what you assume are your well-thought-out positions on some important questions. I intend this to be fun – an exercise in self-exploration, hopefully bringing insight and self-awareness – an exercise in self-knowledge. And so, let me come back to my introductory questions. Let’s begin with the religious dimension of our lives: Why are you a Christian? Well, because Christianity is the one true religion, right? Now I suspect, were I addressing most Christian gatherings, the answer would be, “Yes, of course.” But for this group, after some years of struggling with the issue of Christian exclusivism, I would expect a more nuanced response – We are Christian because, for most of us, we were born into Christian families. We have come to understand the nature of religious tradition: a founding story / a community developing a tradition / a way of life / the moral dimension. Our Elephants are exclusivists. Tell the Elephant there is light and grace in other traditions and the Elephant feels threatened. Think back about how perhaps you struggled with that question. I remember my own painful journey. And remember we were judged to be outside the pale of Reformed Faith on this issue. © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It is interesting that a recent study by the Pew Research Center claims the majority of Catholics and Protestants now believe there is salvation in other faiths – an encouraging sign. But you may remember, in our conflict with the Muskegon Classis, I said, “Scratch the word alone in the claim of ‘salvation through Jesus Christ alone’ and I will sign on” – and the answer was “No way.” A dozen years later I am amazed that was even an issue; but for me, for us, to come to that point was a struggle. Our Elephants are exclusivists. Does that mean I can go anywhere, to any kind of religious community and find my heart warmed, my mind opened, my spirit fed? No, not at all. My Elephant or, better, my being, has been hard-wired not only to be religious but has been formed by faith, vision, understanding, liturgy, worship experience, hymns, sacraments, etc., and it is those religious observances that touch me, move me, inspire me, challenge me and bless me altogether. My rational part – the Rider in me – understands I am the product of a long conditioning process that I have come to understand in its misty, mythological origins, in its evolving forms and present expression that I affirm, I choose. To use an image that, when I first used it, got me into trouble – The Cathedral at Chartres: An Englishman, Malcolm Miller, gave fascinating lectures in the Cathedral. He told how, before the printing press, the cathedral was the village library – the stories told in stained glass. The biblical story was recorded in the windows of the respective sections of the cathedral. Depending on the section – nave, chancel or choir – you “read” one of the stories. I thought to myself, one tradition reads one story, another one reads another – but the light that made the stories come alive was of a common source. I became a pluralist in that moment. If I choose, perhaps I can move into another “picture”. If I’m seeking, I may explore. Some even cross over. But I’m not so inclined. My faith understanding at this point satisfies me. And for the rest, I bless them. Perhaps I can say it this way: my rider has made peace with my elephant and in things religious my elephant is not easily roused. I have made a choice which ministers to the deep traditioning that formed me. I am at peace. Let’s move to the political dimension. I know one is not supposed to mix religion and politics but I’ve been reckless before. We are in the midst of a presidential campaign. Will it be McCain or Obama? Are you a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent? © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   We live in a time of too much media coverage – too many talking heads with too much air time. And since the real issue is audience share/ advertising/ the bottom line, the reality is not thoughtful, reasoned discourse appealing to our rational nature but rather which channel can best rouse the elephant in us. And the elephant does rouse, doesn’t it? I was raised in a staunch Republican home. I have said before, it seems I am always out of step with the times. As a child I remember table conversations in which FDR was the evil Satan. As the years went by, I learned FDR was ranked as one of the great presidents who constructed the safety net that has been in peril from the party of my birth. I find I’m not a very good party person anymore just as I am no longer a religious exclusivist. Yet there is an elephant dimension in me that created a feeling of guilt the first time I pulled the lever for a democrat. In Chicago on Monday I paged through a few books at Borders. One was George Lackoff’s The Political Mind. I was interested because I have recently read Drew Westen’s The Political Brain and Lackoff refers very affirmingly to Westen’s book. The Political Brain does something like Haidt in The Happiness Hypothesis in that he demonstrates how we make our political choices. We only think we are being calmly reasonable in our political choices when it is really our Elephant talking most of the time. We find those political leaders highly reasonable and persuasive when they are feeding our elephant appetites, while their opponents sound off-key. What is really happening to us is the triggering of all sorts of factors below the level of our consciousness. It can be rather depressing at first blush when I realize what is really going on – I would like to think I’m an intelligent, balanced, well-informed, fair-minded citizen, only to realize that I am a bundle of sub-rational prejudices and predispositions that I paste on the respective candidates. We wonder why politics becomes so divisive, so mean, so negative and then we learn that what is being appealed to is not our reason and civility but our passions, our prejudices, our fears – in a word, our elephant. Will that ever change? I’m really not sure. It is really not as though it is everyone else’s problem; I too am a big elephant with a little reasoning rider. Awareness helps. I become aware that there are factors affecting me on issues and candidates that cause me to react positively or negatively and, from time to time, I may be tempered in my reaction or I may give the one who is not the candidate of choice for me a bit of leeway. But the closer the issue comes to my elephant core, the more difficult it is for me to keep some objectivity in place. In the Democratic Primary there was much discussion about the issues of gender and race. © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Did Hillary suffer from bias against the idea of a woman in leadership? Certainly there is a percentage of the population that would refuse to vote for a woman no matter who she was. And no doubt there is a percentage of the population that will refuse to vote for Obama because he is black. And in each case this will be by some who will state the fact openly, but probably a large percentage for whom gender or race are determinative below the surface – that is, folks who would deny that consciously and yet be controlled by those issues subconsciously. I wish I could say for me such subconscious prejudice is not the case but that would only show how little I understand myself. Are we doomed forever? No, I think we do make progress. In the case of religious exclusivism, as we saw, there is progress against exclusivism. And in the recent primary battle, it was between a woman and a black man. And it is highly possible that a black man (or bi-racial) will be elected. That is quite amazing. But the reality of the elephant remains as we make our political choice. Finally, let me come to an issue I deem by far the most critical, namely, the question of what kind of a world we envision and are committed to strive for. I began with the religious issue and moved to the political issue, in each case attempting to point out how our reasoned judgment is strongly controlled or at least influenced by our subconscious formation and conditioning. The elephant when roused clouds the rational judgment, which we assume informs our judgments. All that background heritage we carry seeps through our reasoning processes. So it is as regards our global vision. Let me make a couple observations: In its founding vision and founding documents, ours is a truly remarkable nation. We began in bloody revolution. The heroes of the Revolution we celebrated on the Fourth of July were freedom fighters. We rebelled against the Royal Crown – the legally established authority which considered us terrorists. We tend to forget that historical fact when we engage in pushing down revolts around the world. But I would argue that the nation that was born – the founding vision – was remarkable – was ahead of anything at that time – the divine right of kings, the feudal systems and emperor worship. I am no expert on all of this. I am attempting simply to make the point that our emergence as a nation was a remarkable move forward in the establishment of human dignity, human rights, and democratic government. We are still a young nation relatively speaking but have been a laboratory of human community. We © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 7   have established a free and prosperous, creative and innovative nation. In a word, this nation has been an impressive human achievement. To be sure there are dark shadows aplenty in our history – one of the most glaring –slavery and the continuing racism that manifests itself. I am not denying where we have fallen short but the ideals of our founding and the embodiment of those ideals has been a remarkable human experiment. Having said that, I must say that we are in serious danger of compromising those ideals. And here I want to suggest something that may rouse the elephant in you… In 1989, I think it was, the Berlin Wall fell as the Soviet Union imploded. It was a glorious celebration. The long Cold War ended. We remained the one great super power. No one could touch us. What a moment that was and what grand possibilities that presented. Leaving gaps in recording the history of the last two decades admittedly, there arose political thinkers who saw the possibility of a unipolar world – the era of America – one world power dominating the globe. A study paper was produced that outlined the future direction. But the world was only apparently at peace. There were festerings of the human soul in many places. The most serious challenge from what we have named Islamic Fundamentalism – 9/11 happened. And we are all too well aware of the failure to deal with that terrorist act as a police action. After removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, it became an occasion to invade Iraq. The rest is history… In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush named North Korea, Iran and Iraq as “the axis of evil”. The 9/11 event gave power to the neoconservative movement that had produced that unipolar version during the presidency of the first President Bush. (At that time in a sermon I criticized that axis of evil characterization with its hostile tone suggesting we should rather use our position at the pinnacle of power to change the world.) Imperial America was born – American Empire – and there we are today. I won’t bother you with statistics but military power is deployed around the globe. A war in Iraq – and Islamic terrorism still a threat to global community. What might have happened if at the pinnacle of power we had changed the way the world relates in global community? What if we had used our overwhelming power/ wealth/resources to unite the world through the alleviation of poverty, world health care and education, lifting up people aspiring to a humane existence? © Grand Valley State University �Your Elephant is Showing… Richard A. Rhem Page 8   There is a problem with empire. It remains in power by domination, through military might. It is always threatened and needs to react to challenge. Empires must always look over their shoulder and guard their flank. And this too – empires rise and fall, and in the meantime sustain themselves through endless war – until they die exhausted. Now being a preacher I cannot help but refer you to Jesus who came preaching the Kingdom of God. He was born in a time of brutal empire to a people living under the heel of Rome. But he changed the world through the power of love. Love your enemies…and when they crucified him, he prayed, “Father, forgive them…” And it worked too until the Church became the Empire with all the trappings of pomp, glory and power. But the memory of the dangerous life and message of Jesus has never been defeated. Of what practical significance is this? You watch your elephant rise up…. 1. 2. 3. Carefully, responsibly we must yield our sovereignty using all our resources to create a world government; There must be total nuclear disarmament; There must be an end to war. I know, I know. I hear the “Yabuts”. But what is making everything in you rise up to write that off as an “impossible dream”? Oops – your elephant is showing… References: Jonathan Haidt. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2006. Drew Westen. The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, 2007. © 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 Sunday Potluck Picnic Location The location of the interview Pottawattomie Park References Jonathan Haidt. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, 2006. Drew Westin. The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, 2007. 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-0-20080723 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-07-23 Title A name given to the resource Your Elephant is Showing... 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 July 23, 2008 entitled "Your Elephant is Showing...", on the occasion of Sunday Potluck Picnic, at Pottawattomie Park . 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 Arc of Justice Brain Science Exclusivism Pluralism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/53ec81a4c2da867379dc793a1d54c8e9.pdf c25d16ccfde77f478201f553088b4202 PDF Text Text When the Heart is Surprised by Hope Lamentations 3:20f Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan August 10, 2008 Prepared text of the sermon The Psalm to which I direct your attention this morning is actually not in the Psalter but in a writing called Lamentations. To lament is a frequent poetic utterance in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are many Psalms of lament in the Psalter but Lamentations, which you find immediately after Jeremiah, is a writing consisting of five poems – all laments – thus the title Lamentations. Following Jeremiah and because Jeremiah is often called the Weeping Prophet, Lamentations is traditionally attributed to him. However, we really don’t now who the author was. This we know – his is perhaps the most eloquent outpouring of grief ever recorded. And if we are not sure who the author was, we can be certain of the historical situation that called it forth. In the year 587 BCE the Babylonian Imperial Forces successfully moved into Jerusalem, destroying the Royal Residence, the Temple, the city walls and took all but the poor and elderly into captivity to Babylon for what we speak of as the Exile. That event is briefly recorded in II Kings 25:8-12: In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon – Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, an official of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned down the house of Yahweh, and the King’s house; and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every great man’s house, he set on fire and burned. The whole army of the Chaldeans tore down the walls of Jerusalem, all around … The rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who had deserted to the King of Babylon, and the rest of the populace, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took to Babylon as prisoners. The captain of the guard left only some of the poorest in the country to tend the vines and farm the land. A commentator on Lamentations describes the tragedy and its implications for Israel thus. It is first of all a recital of the horrors and atrocities that came during the long siege and its aftermath, but beyond the tale of physical suffering it tells of the spiritual significance of the fall of the city. For the ancient © Grand Valley State University   �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 2   people chosen by Yahweh it meant the destruction of every cherished symbol of their election by God. In line after line the poet recalls all the precious, sacred things which had been lost or shattered: the city itself, once “the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth;” the city walls and towers, once the outward sign that “God is in the midst of her;” the King, “the anointed of Yahweh, the breath of our nostrils;” the priests, and with them all festive and solemn worship; the prophets, and with them all visions and the living word of God; the land itself, Israel’s “inheritance” from Yahweh, now turned over to strangers; the people – dead, exiled, or slaves in their own land. Every sign that had once provided assurance and confidence in God was gone. (Anchor Bible, Lamentations, p. xv) The outpouring of grief and pain and human disaster is brought to expression in the five poems found in the Lamentations. My title today is “When the Heart is Surprised by Hope”. Does it strike you as strange that I should attempt such a subject from a writing called Lamentations? Well, if you have wondered about it, you are prepared to hear the most important thing I want to say this morning – namely – that hurt is the home of hope. My intention from the text is to suggest that one of the fascinating aspects of human experience is that it is often when the darkness seems to swallow us up that light breaks through. I wonder why that is the case. I wonder if there is some aspect of the vast cosmic dance and our emerging human experience that points to a source of Grace beyond us that is not at our disposal but yet dawns upon us betimes and is a pointer to a healing dimension in our human journey; might there be a bias for life and healing? The author of Lamentations was wrestling with the human condition marked by intense suffering, spiritual desolation and tragedy. The writer is dismayed – If God is responsible for everything that happens then how could God allow this tragedy to fall upon Jerusalem? Does God not see? Is God absent? But this is not satisfactory given the conception of God he holds. Is it then Israel’s sins? Rebellion? Failing to follow the way of holiness and righteousness? Yes – certainly that was true – but was such total devastation not overkill? And there was not only the conviction that God is in total control but there was also Israel’s conception of God as merciful. Certainly God does not willingly grieve or afflict anyone. This suffering poet cannot understand – We see the clash of deeply held convictions. To read through these five poems is to realize the intimacy of Israel’s relationship to God and one could read it and write it off as hopelessly naïve, primitive. God’s direct control of historical events, God’s intervention governing all the © Grand Valley State University �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 3   occurrences on the human historical scene is no longer possible for us who have come to some understanding of the cosmos, of nature in its unfolding, of natural causation – natural disasters bring grief, suffering, earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, flood – and then tragedy brought on by human pride, arrogance, greed and brutality and more. With the dawning of the modern period, questions of God’s involvement in history and human affairs became a major discussion. The great German thinker Leibnitz wrestled with the problems caused by the evolving of human understanding – the Enlightenment period. He reasoned his way to a conception of “the best of all possible worlds”. Theodicy is the endeavor to justify the ways of God in the world – from our perspective, a rather arrogant human undertaking; yet, at the time, a serious matter with great existential implications. But then a disaster struck – the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. It is described in a Wikipedia piece: The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, took place on November1, 1755 at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by a tsunami and fire, which caused near-total destruction of Lisbon, Portugal and adjoining areas. Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9 on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about 200 km (120 mi) westsouthwest of Cape St. Vincent. Estimates place the death toll between 60,000 to 100,000 people, making it one of the most destructive earthquakes in history. Effect on society and philosophy The earthquake had wide-ranging effects on the lives of the populace and intelligentsia. The earthquake had struck on an important Catholic holiday and had destroyed almost every important church in the city, causing anxiety and confusion amongst the citizens of a staunch and devout Catholic city and country, which had been a major patron of the Church. Theologians and philosophers would focus and speculate on the religious cause and message, seeing the earthquake as a manifestation of the anger of God. The earthquake and its fallout strongly influenced the intelligentsia of the European Age of Enlightenment. The noted writer-philosopher Voltaire used the Earthquake in Candide and in his Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne (“Poem on the Lisbon disaster”). Voltaire’s Candide attacks the notion that all is for the best in this, “the best of all possible worlds”, a world closely supervised by a benevolent deity. The Lisbon disaster provided a salutary counterexample. As Theodor Adorno wrote, “the earthquake of Lisbon sufficed to cure Voltaire of the © Grand Valley State University �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 4   theodicy of Leibnitz” (Negative Dialectics 361). In the later twentieth century following Adorno, the 1755 earthquake has sometimes been compared to the Holocaust as a catastrophe that transformed European culture and philosophy. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also influenced by the devastation following the earthquake, whose severity he believed was due to too many people living within the close quarters of the city. Rousseau used the earthquake as an argument against cities as part of his desire for a more naturalistic way of life. So 1755 was a pivot point in the understanding of God’s direct involvement in natural disasters, historical movements and human affairs generally. It was no longer possible to engage with the poet of Lamentations in his dialogue with the Deity. Granted that. Granted that it was no longer possible to understand God pushing the buttons and pulling the levers of the universe. Nonetheless, the issue with which the author was wrestling was real. And the point I am interested in lifting up this morning is the unexpected, amazing breakthrough of hope in the midst of the darkness. The poet is bereft of any solution to his anguish. But then suddenly, unexpectedly, we hear him say: My soul continually thinks of it And is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, And therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness – From which there comes a beautiful old familiar hymn by that name. And he goes on: The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. There you have it – to wait is to wait in expectation – to hope – the surprise of Grace – Sometimes the heart is surprised by hope. But this beautiful witness to hope, to the steadfast love of God, to a God of infinite mercy comes from one whose conception of God was quite different from ours – Can we reject his conception of God and divine action and still hold to his witness to the Surprise of Grace? That is really the issue this morning; that is the question I invite you to reflect on with me. I suggest that hope is grounded in the reality of our universe and thus © Grand Valley State University �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 5   we are surprised by hope and hope manifests itself most often in times of deep distress and hurt. In fact, as I claim above, Hurt is Hope’s Home. That is a suggestion of the Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann – Hurt is Hope’s Home. As I was reflecting on this I was reminded of Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled. It was 30 years ago that the book was published and for at least two decades it remained on the Best Seller List – which I suspect is an indication that there is a great hunger for hope and Peck addressed a deeply felt need in our human experience. And experience is what he based his claim that there is a Grace that comes to us from beyond ourselves. Out of his psychiatric practice he discovered again and again the amazement of Grace operating in the human being. He writes: “The fact that there exists beyond ourselves and our conscious will a powerful force that nurtures our growth and evolution is enough to turn our notions of self-insignificance topsy-turvy. For the existence of this force (once we perceive it) indicates with incontrovertible certainty that our human spiritual growth is of the utmost importance to something greater than ourselves. This something we call God. The existence of grace is prima facie evidence not only of the reality of God but also of the reality that God’s will is devoted to the growth of the individual human spirit. What once seemed to be a fairy tale turns out to be the reality.” (p. 311) William Styron, the author of Sophie’s Choice who died recently, wrote his own story of suffering deep depression. He called it darkness visible. With the literary gift he possessed he wrote a moving chronicle of his experience with depression and, although he did not relate his experience to our question this morning, he witnessed to Peck’s claim precisely. He said to those battling deep depression – “I can only tell you – one day the cloud lifted.” Peck would say – “the amazement of Grace.” One can simply leave it there, or one can name that reality as does Peck and call it the miracle of Grace – that hope dawns in the midst of our darkness – and point to a truth of our cosmic reality – and name it God. My intention this morning is to celebrate the surprising claim that though Hurt is Hope’s Home, Hope Happens and Hope Heals. I am reminded of a close friend of mine from College and Seminary and years together in the Reformed Church. He went on to become General Secretary of the RCA, Deputy Secretary of the World Council of Churches in Geneva and then General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the U.S. In his midfifties he decided to return to the pastorate but then was diagnosed with cancer. I visited him shortly before he died. He was remarkably at peace. He shared some © Grand Valley State University �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 6   of his journal writings, now published as “Overcoming the Threat of Death: A Journal of One Christian’s Encounter with Cancer.” He tells about how he was about to edit his favorite sermon on his favorite text, a favorite of mine as well. A sermon called “Faith in Spite of Everything,” and it is based on those wonderful words from Habakkuk, “Though there be no grapes on the vine and no cattle in the stall, and all will be lost, nonetheless I will exalt in God my Saviour.” Arie says that up and down the land he preached that sermon on that text “Faith in Spite of Everything,” and then, in his encounter with cancer, he began to see that there was something even beyond faith for him. Growth in grace was represented by an experience of hope. He says, “These days I hold out little hope for my cancer to be cured. I haven’t given up, but the statistics steadily weigh ever more heavily against it. In spite of that I find my feelings of hope undiminished. How do I explain this even within the household of faith, to say nothing of a skeptical world? How do I keep people from feeling as they read this that I am clutching at a straw, deceiving myself, using hope as a form of escapism from the harsh reality of terminal illness and death? How do I communicate that in truth we do not sorrow as those who do not have hope? What is this hope that abides in spite of everything? What form does it take? To me this experience of ‘Hope in Spite of Everything’ is even more important than the experience of faith, in spite of everything. I don’t know how to explain that.” Arie Brower was a thoughtful enough Christian to know that there was no way in the world he could prove to anyone that his hope was not simply illusion. But he witnessed to an indomitable hope so that, as he says in another place, “I hope you understand that I’ve been healed of cancer,” even though cancer took his life. Hurt is Hope’s Home Hope Happens. And from widespread testimony – Hope Heals. This was the center of biblical faith. It has been affirmed in modern clinical experience. It is widely witnessed to in many ways. Hope is not a denial of the darkness nor downplaying of the pain. Scott Peck begins his book with the simple statement: “Life is difficult”, and it is. There is enough pain to go around. But the counsel of our writer this morning is to wait – wait as in expectation. With every sunrise I love to remember those marvelous words and the image © Grand Valley State University �Heart Surprised by Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 7   His mercies are new every morning. The English poet William Cowper, 1731-1800, was a fragile youth who suffered and spent 18 months in an insane asylum. He had a spiritual experience. He was invited by John Newton to come to his parish in Olney, England. He was England’s most honored poet between Pope and Shelley. With Newton he gathered 349 hymns for the Olney Hymnal. Out of this deep experience of darkness and light he wrote: “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings; It is the Lord, who rises with healing in His wings: When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again A season of clear shining to cheer it after rain. And in “God Moves In a Mysterious Way”: Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head. Such eloquent testimony tells the story: Hurt is Hope’s Home But Hope Happens And Hope Heals Because we who are hard-wired for God live in a universe which has a Bias for Life. References: M. Scott Peck. The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth. Touchstone, 25th Anniversary edition, 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Scripture Text Lamentations 3:20 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth, 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-0-20080810 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-08-10 Title A name given to the resource When the Heart is Surprised by Hope 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 August 10, 2008 entitled "When the Heart is Surprised by Hope", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Lamentations 3:20. 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 Hope Theodicy https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/266624bfcb3bdf1c78188b74f23c5299.pdf 3b7c40d80e6c3b94f0c7a00e59b856e8 PDF Text Text The Human Hunger for God Psalm 42:1-2 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan September 14, 2008 Prepared text of the sermon For me, the most enjoyable aspect of coming here on these Sunday mornings is the opportunity it affords me to think through seriously some of the dimensions of religious experience and the whole human enterprise of the religious quest. As I have said, I have been on a journey that has brought me from a position of Christian exclusivism, believing salvation was to be found through Jesus Christ alone, to a pluralist understanding that all the great religious traditions that arose in the era around 800 BCE were mediators of the knowledge and experience of the Ultimate, the Absolute, the Sacred Mystery, the One, the real – in my idiom – God. What these Sunday mornings afford me is, in the leisure of retirement from active ministry, the occasion and the joy of looking back over that pilgrimage in light of the continuing contemporary discussions of the phenomenon of religion. I have always found it interesting to find that series I announce at the beginning, in their unfolding, take on a life of their own. I chose to reflect on the poetry of the Hebrew Scriptures – the Psalms as we speak of them – because I am more comfortable with religion in a poetic mode and those utterances have come down to us as profound expressions of the human spirit, expressions of grief, anger, love, praise and deep trust. As I have been working on this series – this is the third of four, I have found myself moving from the expression of a Psalm itself, to reflect on what that expression tells us about the religious quest and the phenomenon of religion in general. In part at least, this adjusted direction has come from encountering an interesting contemporary work entitled Why God Won’t Go Away, whose subtitle is “Brain Science and the Biology of Belief”. The book was recommended to me by Peter Hart who three weeks ago gave a fascinating presentation here about the human brain and the mystical religious experience of unity with the infinite reality. Therefore today I will use Psalm 42 as a poetic expression of the human hunger for God. As a deer longs for flowing streams, So longs my soul for you, O God. © Grand Valley State University   �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   My soul thirsts for God, For the living God. When shall I come and behold The face of God? It would appear that the Psalmist was in a situation of exile, cut off from the setting of the Holy Hill of Zion – the Temple, the Altar, the Priesthood – the symbols by which God’s presence, “the face of God” was experienced by him. In that foreign setting he remembers festive worship, the worshipping community and all the joy and fulfillment he found in such religious observance and he confesses his soul is cast down. He talks to himself, trying to encourage his heart that he will yet again praise God, being restored to his spiritual home, while his adversaries taunt him – “Where is your God?” I need do no more with the Psalm beyond hearing the eloquent expression of longing for communion with God, communion mediated with the rich symbols of Israel’s religious celebrations, except to refer to a hymn taken from The Hymnbook, used for years at Christ Community Church: As pants the hart for cooling streams When heated in the chase, So longs my soul, O God, for Thee, And Thy refreshing grace. For Thee, my God, the living God, My thirsty soul doth pine; O when shall I behold Thy face, Thou Majesty divine! Why restless, why cast down, my soul? Trust God; and He’ll employ His aid for thee, and change these sighs To thankful hymns of joy. Why restless, why cast down, my soul? Hope still; and thou shalt sing The praise of Him who is thy God, Thy health’s eternal Spring. A hymn in a Christian Hymnal using the expressions of Israel’s faith tradition – of course the Christian Church is rooted in the faith of Israel so that is not remarkable. Still it is an instance of two great religious traditions where such a hunger and thirst for communion with God is shared. And it is not just Judaism and Christianity; similar expression of longing, yearning for the experience of union and communion with God is expressed in all the great religious traditions. © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   In all the traditions there are varying teachings, moral codes, symbols and religious observances, but finally it is union and communion with the Sacred Mystery of Reality that is longed for. This comes especially to expression in the mystical experiences witnessed to in the great majority of religions. This is documented in the work of Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Acquili entitled Why God Won’t Go Away (2002). The authors, by their own testimony, admit they pretty much operated on the organizing principle of science that everything that is real can be measured, and scientific methods are the only measurements that count. Quoting Freud, “Science is not an illusion! An illusion it would be to suppose that what science cannot give we can get elsewhere.” Thus the reality of the mystics cannot be considered real; it cannot be scientifically verified. This is what they write: Gene and I began, as all scientists do, with the fundamental assumption that all that is really real is material. We regarded the brain as a biological machine, composed of matter and created by evolution to perceive and interact with the physical world. After years of research, however, our understanding of various key brain structures and the way information is channeled along neural pathways led us to hypothesize that the brain possesses a neurological mechanism for self-transcendence. When taken to its extreme, this mechanism, we believed, would erase the mind’s sense of self and undo any conscious awareness of an external world. This hypothesis was later supported by our SPECT scan studies, which began to shed light on the neurological correlates of spiritual experience. In the narrowest scientific view, it would be possible to believe that we had reduced all spiritual transcendence – from the mildest case of religious uplift, to the profound states of union described by mystics – to a neurological commotion in the brain. But our understanding of the brain would not allow us to rest with that conclusion. (p. 145 f) Their experimentation involved wiring the brains of Buddhist monks in meditation and Franciscan nuns at prayer. The SPECT scans gave similar results – recording the brain’s activity during the movement into the mystic experience or the moments of most intensely religious experience or meditation. On the basis of their study they were convinced that the mystical experience is biologically observable and scientifically real. In their words: As our study continued, and the data flowed in, Gene and I suspected that we’d uncovered solid evidence that the mystical experiences of our subjects – the altered states of mind they described as the absorption of © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   the self into something larger – were not the result of emotional mistakes or simple wishful thinking, but were associated instead with a series of observable neurological events, which, while unusual, are not outside the range of normal brain function. In other words, mystical experience is biologically, observably, and scientifically real. (p. 7) Without attempting to describe their discussion of the anatomy of the brain, a task beyond my competence and purpose, I simply record their conclusion. The inexplicable unity of the biological brain and its ethereal phenomenon of mind is the first aspect of what we have defined as the mind’s mystical potential. The second characteristic, which was hinted at in our SPECT scan studies, is the ability of the mind to interpret spiritual experience as real. This ability, based on the mind’s capacity to enter altered states of consciousness, and to adjust its assessment of reality neurologically, is a fundamental link between biology and religion. (p. 34) What follows, for those interested, is an extended discussion of “Brain Architecture;” for our purposes I jump over that discussion as well as a chapter on myth-making, ritual, mysticism and the origins of religion, to their discussion of the mind’s search for absolutes and their primary claim – “Why God Won’t Go Away.” The authors ask “a provocative question”: “Can all spirituality and any experience of the reality of God be reduced to a fleeting rush of electrochemical blips and flashes, racing along the neural pathways of the brain? Based upon our current understanding of the manner in which the brain turns neural input into the perceptions of human experience, the simplest answer is yes.” (p. 143). But they go on to ask: “Are we saying, then, that God is just an idea, with no more absolute substance than a fantasy or a dream?” They answer that, based on their “best understanding of how the mind interprets the perceptions of the brain, the simplest answer is no.” They reduce the possible conclusions of their work to two: Either spiritual experience is nothing more than a neurological construct created by and contained within the brain, or the state of absolute union that the mystics describe does in fact exist and the mind has developed the capability to perceive it. (p. 147) And, acknowledging that they cannot objectively prove the actual existence of Absolute Unitary Being, nontheless they assert, Our understanding of the brain and the way it judges for us what is real argues compellingly that the existence of an absolute higher reality or © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   power is at least as rationally possible as is the existence of a purely material world. (p. 155) Their research led them to the hypothesis with which they worked – “That spiritual experience, at its very root, is intimately interwoven with human biology. That biology, in some way, compels the spiritual urge.” (p. 8) Such a conclusion led the authors to see all religions as branches of the same tree. Whatever the founding vision, whatever the respective paths that lead to the Absolute, the Sacred Mystery, or to God, the same human brain/mind complex is at work. The authors begin their final chapter, “Why God Won’t Go Away” with a poem prayer by C.S. Lewis, the great English literary scholar. At a later age he was convinced of the truth of Christianity, and, in his early years, wrote a rational defense/exposition of the Christian faith tradition. One can find such in his widely popular Mere Christianity. I was greatly surprised to read his poem “A Footnote to All Prayers” – a far different Lewis than was revealed in his early writings. Whether this poem followed the profound grief experience he suffered in the death of his wife whom he had married later in life and chronicled in his work, A Grief Observed, I do not know. In any case the poem is an amazing and beautiful expression: The one whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou And dream of Phaedian fancies and embrace in heart Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing thou art. Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme Worshipping with frail images of folk-lore dream, And all in their praying, self-deceived, address The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert Our arrows, aimed, unskillfully, beyond desert; And all are idolators, crying unheard To a deaf idol, if thou take them at thy word. Take not, O lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great, Unspoken speech our limping metaphor translate. Here is C. S. Lewis acknowledging the respective images, symbols, incarnations by which the respective religions access God all fall short of perfect vision of the One, the Absolute, the Final Reality – our prayers utilize language which are but “limping metaphors”. Our authors comment: The conclusions of the mystics seem clear: God is by his nature unknowable. He is not an objective fact or an actual being; he is, in fact, © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 6   being itself. The absolute, undifferentiated oneness that is the ground of all existence. (p. 159) While thinking about our reflection today, I saw an announcement of a book whose title seemed to indicate a similar claim to the one made by Newberg and D’Aquili but from quite a different perspective. The title, Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion? By Henry Rosemont, Jr. and Huston Smith. Huston Smith is probably the best known authority on World Religion. His 1958 publication on The Religion of Man, later revised as The World’s Religions, changed the way the American public thought about religion. Widely respected and loved, Huston Smith is a world-class scholar and marvelous human being. In 2000 he was our guest in Spring Lake as lecturer for the Center for Religion and Life. The recent work is an expansion of The Fifth Master Huuan Hua Memorial Lecture, including portions added by Smith’s discussion partner, Henry Rosemont, Jr. who wrote an introduction, an initial response, a recorded discussion with Huston Smith and a final reflection. Smith’s lecture is summarized in the Preface: Professor Smith offers, in the present small volume, a final distillation of his lifetime of study, practice, and insight. He describes a Universal Grammar of religion, in which he claims fourteen points of substantial identity among all the great traditions. Since these points, he argues, are universals, it is evident that a capacity to respond to them must belong to the innate psychophysical makeup of human beings. Borrowing language from the generative linguist Noam Chomsky, who was his friend and colleague at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Smith concludes that we are hard-wired with a capacity for religious experience in the same way that Chomsky claims we are hard-wired to speak our native tongues within the constraints of the syntactic patterns that collectively comprise “Universal Grammar.” (p. viii) Smith and Rosemont were colleagues at M.I.T. along with Noam Chomsky who is a leading linguist and has claimed we are hard-wired to speak our native tongues. In his response to Smith’s lecture, Rosemont gives a brief explanation of Chomsky’s idea of a universal grammar hard-wired into our brains. Chomsky’s reasoning is straightforward: if there are principles that speakers of a language or dialect demonstrably follow from childhood on, but that were not or could not have been learned solely on the basis of direct linguistic experience or tutoring, then those principles must form part of the cognitive endowment that all normal human beings bring to bear in acquiring their native tongue. And it is the task of theoretical generative linguists to formulate hypotheses about what those highly abstract principles might be, and then “test” those hypotheses by observing linguistic behavior (which might be their own, with the observations introspective). (p. 23) © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Rosemont concludes that Huston Smith is using Chomsky’s claim of human hard wiring for language accurately when he claims the same for human hard wiring for religion. He writes, In the same way, Smith is claiming, if I understand him aright, that human beings have a “capacity” to have intimations of the infinite, to apprehend what is beyond or behind our normal sensory experiences. And the evidence for this claim can be found in the sacred texts and practices of all of the world’s religions, distant from each other in time and space. I believe Smith would call these intimations “religious experiences,” and I would call them that, too… (p. 31) I find it interesting that, while Rosemont stops short of agreeing with Huston Smith’s claims of an ontological reality as the counterpart to the human “intimations of the Infinite”, he nevertheless joins him in understanding the human being as having a capacity to receive such “intimations of the Infinite.” My claim would be that just as we are “hard-wired” to respond in certain ways to human speech – the Universal Grammar – so are we wired equally to feel a sense of belonging in the natural world we experience with our sensory organs. But beyond that I make no ontological commitments, in the same way I do not want to say that nouns, verbs, or linguistic structures of any kind are “out there” apart from human mental organs. Nor would I argue that such a religious response to our environment is or is not in any way adaptive for the species; we just have this capacity for response, that’s all. (p. 47) In his own self-description he writes, I am not a Christian, do not believe in God or gods, am terrified at the possibility of surviving in any way the destruction of my body, and believe the idea of a transcendent realm is not only false, but mischievous, to the extent it causes us to lose sight of the splendor, majesty, and spiritual significance of this world – the only world I believe we will ever know. Thus we have a deeply religious person in Huston Smith claiming a religious capacity is hard wired into the human being and one who does not believe in God who agrees that that native given is indeed part of being human. In his own way Henry Rosemont is religious but his religious experience is limited to this world of nature; it is an inner-human phenomenon with no ontologically existing Higher Order. I make this point because of the parallel to the authors of Why God Won’t Go Away. There, too, no ontological claims were being made beyond the fact that the reality of human religious capacity which is a brain/mind function points to the © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 8   possibility and calls in question the claims of atheistic naturalism that claims only that is real that can be measured by empirical scientific means. I confess my affinity to Huston Smith. In the conversation with Rosemont, Rosemont made the point that although Smith had traveled the world over studying and practicing almost all of the world’s religions, he has remained a Protestant Christian in his childhood Methodist church. Rosemont asked him why, to which in vintage Huston Smith, he replied, “A friend who knows me very well said, ‘Huston, you know full well that the only thing that keeps you in that wishy-washy Methodist church is ancestor worship and filial piety’.” Quoting the Dalai Lama who, when asked about conversion, replied, “Well, it’s best if you can stay in the heritage that raised you because your impulses are just attuned thereto.” As I was thinking about this whole subject I began to wonder about a religious experience that is inner-human and one that has an objective referent. It was the great German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, considered the Father of Protestant Liberalism, who found his evidence for the existence of God in the feeling of absolute dependence. This was the turn from the 18th century – the Age of Enlightenment – to the 19th century. Emmanuel Kant’s epistemological writings had destroyed the traditional proof for the existence of God. Traditional Christian theological claims were seriously challenged and Scriptural authority was coming under siege. Schleiermacher was looking for an alternative foundation for believing in God. He shifted the location of authority from Biblical revelation and church dogma to the human being – the feeling of absolute dependence. This was the initial move but the 19th century saw the rise of modern atheism, pioneered by Ludwig Feuerbach whose projection theory claimed God was the human projection of his own deepest yearnings and virtues on to the screen of reality before which the human then bowed in worship. There was no God out there; God is created by the human in his own image. Taking Feuerbach’s claim for the Truth were Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and finally Fredrick Nietzsche and Nihilism. I bring up Schleiermacher and the trend he initiated by his move to the human as the seat of religious authority because of a comment made by the great Catholic theologian Hans Küng writing of Feuerbach: Was Feuerbach not right to see his philosophy as the end phase of a Protestant theology that – as he thought – long before his time had become an anthropology, so that he needed only to understand and appropriate its real intentions? Does not the danger become apparent at this point of a theology in Schleiermacher’s style, which makes the reality of God dependent on the religious experiences and emotional needs of the devout human subject? But is not the danger also evident of a © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page 9   contemporary “political theology,” which reduces theology to a “critical theory of history” or of “society”? Is it not clear at this point how close we are to atheism if we do not distinguish between theological and anthropological propositions, if we identify man’s interest with God’s, if we one-sidedly stress God’s nonobjectivity, almost see God as absorbed in our neighbor and the mystery of being simply as the mystery of love? (Does God Exist? P. 214) The towering figure of Karl Barth, the theological giant of the 20th century, strongly critiqued Schleiermacher for beginning the movement that transformed theology into anthropology – the movement from the study of God to the study of the human. Barth burst on the 20th century scene, stressing the Word of God, the Word of revelation – God the Wholy Other who addresses us vertically from above. Barth shifted the whole direction of continental theology and greatly impacted Protestant theology in this country as well. The times were right for such a shift to be sure. Europe was in chaos following the First World War and many were seeking “some word from the Lord.” I hear Küng’s warning. I am in awe of the accomplishment of Karl Barth. Yet I find myself going back to Schleiermacher in his attempt to give foundation to religious experience without relying on external authority of ancient book or ancient church and its tradition. I’m not certain how relevant my questions are to the other great religious traditions but they are very real for Christianity, Judaism and Islam – religions of the Book. The contemporary neurological research demonstrates that it is in the right brain that our religious experience is located. The right brain is formed and nurtured by emotional experiences, including religious experience such as liturgy, ritual, ceremony, celebrations – experiences of a worshipping community in which one is “moved”. Our right brains are shaped by symbols, music, movement and sensory data. And here is the problem for especially the Protestant tradition in which I was nurtured – the tradition of Schleiermacher/Feuerbach and in reaction , Karl Barth and the neo-orthodox movement. This has been a left brain enterprise. Finally, the reality of spiritual, religious experience is not a matter of rational deliberation but precisely of letting go of intellectual delineation and allowing oneself to enter the flow of the Spirit. As we are learning from recent brain research, it is the right brain that “lights up” in intense religious experience. I wonder whether, before the knowledge of the human brain was available, the distinction of right brain and left brain, Schleiermacher was not reaching for just such a move – from rational, left brain religious rationality to a right brain centered experience of God. © Grand Valley State University �Human Hunger for God Richard A. Rhem Page10   For this reason I am encouraged by the contemporary effort to ground religious experience in the anatomy of the human. That does not solve the question of the existence of God – the ontological reality of a Being as the counterpoint to our neurological capacity to receive “intimations of the Infinite” or whether those intimations stem from the Sacred Mystery that is contained within the one reality of the natural world. But these, it seems to me, are the critical contemporary points for further enquiry. As for me, I feel most at home with Huston Smith who sees the commonly shared truth of all the great traditions, yet remains in his native spiritual home. That is the beauty of this inter-faith community where one honors all but can be true to one’s own formation, one’s own story, symbols and rituals that trigger the intimations of the Infinite. I do believe the hunger for God is a human universal. That hunger can be stunted, left dormant and for all appearances seem to be absent. But then perhaps some deep experience whether of joy or grief, of illness or good health causes one to wonder about life’s ultimate questions, the whence, the whither of life and the meaning of it all in the meantime. Then one might identify with the Hebrew poet who exclaimed – As the deer longs for flowing streams, So longs my soul for you, O God. Then one might awaken to a hitherto unawakened hunger, and realize, My soul thirsts for God, For the living God. And that longing will be satisfied in the quietude of the soul’s longing. References: Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili. Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New York: Ballantine Books, 2001. Harry Rosemont, Jr. and Huston Smith. Is There a Universal Grammar for Religion? © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Series Heartfelt Poems Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Andrew Newberg & Eugene D'Aquili. Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief, 2002. Henry Rosemont & Huston Smith. Is There a Universal Grammar for Religion?, 2008. 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-0-20080914 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-09-14 Title A name given to the resource The Human Hunger for 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 14, 2008 entitled "The Human Hunger for God", as part of the series "Heartfelt Poems", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. 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 Brain Science C.S. Lewis Hans K Mystical experience Schliermacher https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f5a2789312eaf740221a4f3d93923a83.pdf e883ac103e64e214b5119f5bde45b08e PDF Text Text The God We Cannot Flee Heartfelt Poems Psalm 139 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan October 19, 2008 Prepared text of the sermon This is the fourth of the four scheduled presentations for 2008. As I begin each time, I want to express my appreciation to Tapas and the Interfaith Center for the invitation and the opportunity to reflect on biblical themes from my own Christian tradition. Here all are honored, celebrated, and respected and one experiences that all too rare spirit of warm welcome, affirmation and openness. There is something about the atmosphere here that invites one to relax, to share openly and candidly and sense one is valued. This is a place of rich spiritual life where religious practice and spiritual quest are joined in a wonderfully positive community that is unapologetically a community of religious faith in its wide variety of manifestations. I had to smile to myself a week ago yesterday as I read the Grand Rapids Press section on Religion. I was reminded of my pre-retirement preaching ministry, when on Saturday morning, I regularly took the Press Religion section up to my loft where I would hibernate until I left for Christ Community Church on Sunday morning. More often than not, there would be something in the paper that would get my adrenaline flowing and even, if I were fortunate, provide an entrée to the subject of the sermon I had announced. I smiled because it happened again; what I was ruminating on for today was dealt with, in a sense, in two pieces that referred to the same current phenomenon – the film by humorist Bill Maher entitled Religulous. You have probably heard about the recent release of the film; it has a strong PR campaign working to promote the film. The L.A. Times printed a piece entitled “Bill Maher’s Religulous; Oscar Bait?” (August 21, 2008): When I attended a press screening for Bill Maher’s “Religulous” in New York on Tuesday, it struck me like a lightning bolt on the road to the Kodak Theatre via Damascus: yeah, “Religulous” will probably be nominated for best docu at the Oscars – and God help us all after that. © Grand Valley State University   �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 2   We know that “Religulous” is seriously in the derby for several reasons. First, Lionsgate hired veteran Oscars PR reps to handle its ballyhoo (Michele Robertson in L.A., Jeff Hill in New York). Secondly, the studio is giving the documentary its theatrical runs in L.A. and New York to qualify it for academy consideration, as Jeff Sneider notes at Anne Thompson’s blog at Variety.com. Thirdly the hallelujahs that film critics gave it today at the screening. More disciples are sure to follow. In order to catch on widely like religion itself, what atheism has needed for a long time is a popular preacher to rally ‘round. Maher just volunteered for the job that’s been vacant since Madalyn Murray O’Hair vanished in the 1990’s (eventually found murdered in 2001).Richard Dawkins has been a fine temporary stand-in, but not flashy like O’Hair. Bill Maher kicks things up a notch. He’s a pop culture hipster who already has a large, antiestablishment flock, and he has a bully pulpit that O’Hair didn’t: his own HBO show plus vast presence across all media. The Huffington Post notes: In a statement about the film, Maher explained his rationale for making it: It has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to make organized religion one of my favorite targets. I often explained to people, “I don’t need to make fun of religion, it makes fun of itself.” And, then I go ahead and make fun of it too, just for laughs. With religious fanatics like George Bush and Osama bin Laden now taking over the world, it seemed to me in recent years that this issue – this cause of debunking the man behind the curtain – needed to have a larger, more insistent and focused forum than late night television. I wanted to make a documentary, and I wanted it to be funny. In fact, since there is nothing more ridiculous than the ancient mythological stories that live on as today’s religions, this movie would try to be a real knee slapper. Unless, of course, you’re religious, then you might not like it. As part of the film, Maher has also created a website, Disbeliefnet, as a parody of Beliefnet, the popular spiritual website. In response to the local showing of the film that occurred on Friday, October 3, Charles Honey used his column to suggest “It’s time to move beyond belief wars.” He writes we should divide into teams – religious believers on one side, atheists and agnostics on the other with each side getting ten minutes to present its case for or against God and religion. Then each side would get a five-minute rebuttal. Well, Honey is spoofing, of course, but his serious point is believers would do well to listen to the critics of religion and so would the sceptics. And, he concludes, both sides would do well to know when to give it a rest. © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 3   A more important piece in the Religion Section, also by Charles Honey, was entitled “Nonbelievers Make A Move”, in which he reports on a gathering of religious sceptics who gathered after seeing the movie. He writes, “For many of them, Maher’s mockery of religious faith was a kind of coming out for their beseiged minority of atheists and agnostics.” One complained, “They don’t respect us in our nonbelief….Why can’t we have a conversation about this?” To which a Hope College Professor of Psychology responds, “Great; let’s talk.” David Meyers is a fine scholar, widely published, and a serious Christian. His latest book is entitled A Friendly Letter to Sceptics and Atheists. He thinks scepticism is essential to healthy faith. He writes, Let’s, with a spirit of humility, put testable ideas to the test and then let’s throw out religion’s dirty bathwater. But then he adds, Is there amid the bathwater a respect-worthy baby – a reasonable and beneficial faith? Well, it is not my intention to get into this discussion. My comments flow from my expression of appreciation for this inter-faith community which strikes me as serene in its diverse religious observance. Perhaps it is simply that I am of an age that religious wars and conflict hold no interest for me. I’ve had enough of trying to persuade or convert or argue. But that doesn’t imply that I no longer find the spiritual/religious quest fascinating; I do. And I cherish a good book, a good conversation, arriving at a new insight. I never tire of wondering, wondering about the amazing cosmic story, the emergence of life, of consciousness and awareness, the evolution of human thought and the history of religion in all its varied facets. It is a great gift to be free of religious institutional concerns, budgets and building programs and memberships. I’ve paid my dues in that dimension of religious practice. And now, if anyone is interested, I can reflect on the mystery that is at the heart of reality, the Sacred and the Holy to which there has been universal witness of experience. And I can, if I desire, even view Religulous and read the hostile denials of God in Dawkin’s The God Delusion or the petulance of Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great. But that is not where I will feed my spirit. It is rather in the great classics of religious experience as well as the sacred texts themselves, for me, the biblical text. That is what these four reflections have been – hearing again the heartfelt poems that came to expression in the Hebrew Scripture. Last month my theme was “The Human Hunger for God” taking the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 42: © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 4   As the deer longs for flowing streams, So my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, For the Living God. Much of my presentation focused on a work by Andrew Newberg and Eugene D’Aquili, Why God Won’t Go Away. In sum, the authors claim on the basis of brain research that we are hard-wired for spiritual experience; it is a given of human nature. Supplementing that claim, I referred to a recent book by Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont, Jr., whose title raises the question, Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion? The authors agree there is. Huston Smith, the dean of scholars who has studied world religions, comes from a life-long Christian perspective. Rosemont, however, declares, “I am not a Christian, do not believe in God or gods….” Yet these two from oppositive positions on the God question and religious practice both affirm that there is written in the human DNA a religious dimension. (My presentation was, some have told me, heavy and I must admit, when I was finished it did feel a bit like a term paper.) We will look more closely at Psalm 139 in a moment but first I want to return to the discussion between Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont, Jr. in the recent work to which I referred last time – Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion? In his response to Huston Smith’s lecture claiming there is an innate human capacity for religious experience – a conclusion with which Rosemont agrees with Smith as well as the authors of Why God Won’t Go Away – he set himself apart from Huston in that Huston has remained in his childhood faith – Christian faith in the Methodist tradition – while Rosemont says, “I am not a Christian and I don’t believe in God…” You may find it strange that one who writes with Huston Smith and agrees that there is a universal human religious dimension would say he doesn’t believe in God. Obviously, for him religious experience must be of another sort than that of traditional religion focused on some conception of Divinity, of a Supreme Being though variously described. And indeed that is the case. I did not reference this last month but on my first reading of Rosemont’s response to Huston Smith’s lecture I was struck by his own statement of how he understood religious experience. As he was the designated responder to Huston Smith’s recent lecture, so a few years earlier Huston was the responder to a Rosemont lecture. Rosemont refers to that lecture as he tries to portray where he is in relation to Huston’s Christian understanding. He explains: Much of my lecture was devoted to claiming that the sacred texts of the world’s religions all provided spiritual disciplines for the achievement of religious experiences which I described as a strong feeling of belonging, or © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 5   of attunement, or, in Wittgenstein’s Christian-flavored account, “the experience of being absolutely safe.” Let me underline Rosemont’s description of religious experience – A strong feeling of belonging, or of attunement, or, in Wittgenstein’s Christian-flavored account, “the experience of being absolutely safe.” I found, and I find that a powerfully descriptive phrase that immediately resonated with me. Wittgenstein was one of the towering figures of early 20th century philosophical discussion, especially in the meaning of language in our discourse. I was frankly surprised to find such a description of religious experience in Wittgenstein. Rosemont went on to say that in his response to the lecture, Huston Smith pointed to that religious sense – I really liked what you moved up to in the notion of the mystical absolute safety, and the notion of belonging. But again, are these simply psychological states that these traditions give us as directives for how we can come to these feelings? Or, do they dig deeper into the nature of things to describe a reality, the ultimate reality which gives grounds for us to think that we are not just making it up when we have these sentiments of safety and belonging? (p. 40) Rosemont responded to Huston’s comment at the time of that discussion – My claim would be that just as we are “hard-wired” to respond in certain ways to human speech – the Universal Grammar – so are we wired equally to feel a sense of belonging in the natural world we experience with our sensory organs. But beyond that I make no ontological commitments… Now in this recent book he explains himself further. …although I restrict myself to the human realm, I take that realm, and religious experience, very seriously, and do not believe we are somehow “just making it up.” But as his remarks both then and now suggest, Smith does seem to want to say more, as he does at the outset of his lecture: The world (that my fourteen points) describe is objective, in the sense that it was here before we were and it is our business to understand it. He reiterates this claim in his ninth point: Nature does the same thing by building this Universal Grammar of language into our heads. We did not create that. It came from outside. © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Now if by “outside” Smith means that our linguistic capacity is not such that we can modify it at will – that it does not depend on our whim, or even on any particular psychological state – then I would heartily agree, and believe Chomsky would as well. Language is simply an important feature of the species homo sapiens, and I would say the same for the religious capacity. But if by “outside” Smith wants to go beyond human biology, I fear I may not be able to join him. Do you catch what is going on here? Is religion an inner-psychological experience or does the experience point beyond itself to a Ground “outside” our personal experience? To feel “absolutely safe” – is that an inner psychological/spiritual experience or does that point beyond the personal experience to a transcendent, objective Ground? As I was gathering resources on our Psalm this morning, Psalm 139, which we will come to in a moment, I came on a sermon by Paul Tillich on the Psalm and was delighted because I thought maybe he could help me with the Smith/Rosemont question. Tillich, one of the seminal religious thinkers of the twentieth century, was well known for the description of God as the Ground of Being. I began to wonder if Tillich was trying to articulate an understanding somewhere between Rosemont and Smith. Ground of Being Is that Ground, the Creative Source, the Presence of Mystery within the one reality of our universe? Or is that a Foundation “outside” to use Huston’s words? This is what Tillich expresses in his sermon on Psalm 139: Christian theology and religious instruction speak of the Divine Omnipresence, which is the doctrine that God is everywhere, and of the Divine Omniscience, which is the doctrine that God knows everything. It is difficult to avoid such concepts in religious thought and education. But they are at least as dangerous as they are useful. They make us picture God as a thing with superhuman qualities, omnipresent like an electric power field, and omniscient like a superhuman brain. Such concepts as “Divine Omnipresence” and “Divine Omniscience” transform an overwhelming religious experience into an abstract, philosophical statement, which can be accepted and rejected, defined, redefined, and replaced. In making God an object besides other objects, the existence and nature of which are matters of argument, theology supports the escape to atheism…. Let us therefore forget these concepts, as concepts, and try to find their genuine meaning within our own experience. We all know that we cannot © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 7   separate ourselves at any time from the world to which we belong. There is no ultimate privacy or final isolation. We are always held and comprehended by something that is greater than we are, that has a claim upon us, and that demands response from us. The most intimate motions within the depths of our souls are not completely our own. For they belong also to our friends, to mankind, to the universe, and to the Ground of all being, the aim of our life. (The Shaking of the Foundations, p. 45f) Tillich discourages philosophical debate about the nature or attributes of God and encourages us to try to find what those concepts mean in our own experience. And he assumes that experience is real, not delusion – agreeing with the authors of Why God Won’t Go Away and with Huston Smith. He claims “We are always held and comprehended by something that is greater than we are, that has a claim upon us…”. I assume he is saying such a realization of being “held and comprehended by something” is a dimension of human experience reflective of the reality of the human situation. But what does his counsel to leave off philosophical debate and look to experience have to say to the question we raised about the positions of Huston Smith and Henry Rosemont? Could not the experience of being “held and comprehended” be either an experience pointing beyond itself to a “Ground Outside” as Huston would claim, or to an experience within the one reality of our existence, as Rosemont contends?? I’m not enough of a Tillich scholar to give an answer; perhaps in his total work an answer is available. But as I reflect on this whole question I cannot help but ask: Does it matter? Need it be either/or? In either case would not the experience be the same? And that experience would be, in Wittgenstein’s words, “the experience of being absolutely safe.” I wonder. Having been born into and nurtured in a community of faith that understood God as over against Creation, both transcending creation and immanent within it, I understand Huston Smith’s probing and his intention of grounding the human and human religious experience “outside” the realm of human experience, the Reality to which human religious symbols and stories point. I am inclined by everything that has shaped me to understand God as “outside”. I suspect that is the case also with Tillich although I wonder whether he was not suggesting God as the Ground of Being as immanent in the totality of reality, © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 8   moving away from the traditional theism that understood God as “outside” of our cosmic reality even though immanent within as well. A naïve criticism of religious experience as an inner psychological phenomenon would claim that that makes God and/or religious experience simply a figment of our imagination or, even more crassly, the result of self-delusion. We brainwash ourselves as it were. But what if our psychological experience is the fruit of the experience of the whole of reality – the means by which the Sacred Mystery, the Source and Ground of All That Is is perceived? What if the marvelous gift of imagination is precisely the locus of the intersection of divine spirit and human spirit? What if there is not a bifurcation of reality into eternal/temporal, spirit/matter, sacred/profane? Let’s take such a wondering question to the Psalms, to Israel’s hymnbook or Psalter. Of course we are dealing with an ancient cosmology, a three-storied universe, a God who is Person as we are persons – only more so – the Creator, Ruler, Judge and Savior. But, acknowledging that and recognizing such conceptuality cannot work for us, nonetheless listen for the experience to which the Psalmist gives expression – read it in your favorite translation – the experience of being known, completely known: O Lord, you have searched me And known me, … Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your Presence? For it was you who formed My inward parts; You knit me together In my mother’s womb Where could I flee? But why should I flee for I am immersed in the Presence, the Presence of Grace. The closing verses grow harsh, wishing death on the wicked or is it simply those who do not share the Psalmist’s divine vision? Whichever, thankfully, the Psalmist moves beyond his vituperative condemnation – sensing, it seems, that he is out of line. Such imprecatory expression has no place in the presence of the Presence, and he returns to his own self-awareness in the Presence of the God before whom he is an open book: Search me, know my heart, test me and know my thoughts …and lead me in the way everlasting. © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page 9   A moving conclusion, resonant with openness, humility and peace in the Presence. Some years ago I received a modern translation of Psalm 139 from Howard Moody of the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, New York City. I think the author was a creative artist/poet on the church staff, the Rev. Al Carmines. I find this a most moving paraphrase of the Psalm: Yahweh, you have searched me, Known me deeply; Known my rest and restlessness, My innermost desires And where they lead In word and deed. Yahweh, you surround me, Hound me with a closeness Which will not retire – I cannot pass your test. Where shall I hide from your wind, Or where find a place that is faceless? No long road will lead away Nor deep sea drown your sounding voice. No height escapes your frightful reach Nor emptiness, your speech. The darkness leaves no time alone, For dark and light are both your home. There in the darkness of your secret place You formed my frame and shaped my face; There in the darkness of my mother’s womb You made room for me. Accept my praise: For I am dazed By your creation: Thoughtful of each instant of my time As if I were your only child; Yet my life, part of the ongoing rhyme Of history, your play. Why don’t you kill these selfish actors? Men who seek the center stage And try to play your part! How my heart rages at the sight of them! Why don’t you… © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page10   Search me and know my heart; Test me and know my doubts; And see if I am hiding in false face; And lead my words and actions by your grace. I am no accomplished judge of poetic expression but I find that powerful and moving, capturing in beautiful language the intimacy the Psalmist experienced in his witness to the God he could not flee. To use the phrase from Tillich, one could say the Psalmist found himself “always held and comprehended by something that is greater than we are, that has a claim upon us….” Or, to use Huston Smith’s language when describing that which is “outside” our experience: “…the ultimate reality which gives grounds for us to think that we are not just making it up when we have these sentiments of safety and belonging.” That feeling of safety and belonging would be a fitting description of Psalm 139. The experience of being absolutely safe. Experience – that is what the religious dimension of being human is all about. Religious experience has many facets and fruits as well as some shadow sides in human experience. The psalmist’s imprecations against the enemies of God as he understood God; the marriage of ignorance and arrogance that marks so much religious exclusivism and militancy. The control by institutional authoritarianism manipulating the people by the imputation of guilt and the prospect of an eternal burning. I could go on but to what avail? That is not what religious practice and observance is about in a place like this. It is not what it is about where it is a means to open the mind and warm the heart. And I know of no finer, more concise description of the fruit of the spiritual quest and the religious life than coming to an experience of being absolutely safe. Is that experience an inner psychological/spiritual experience or is it an experience grounded outside ourselves in the very structure of reality, in the Ground of Being, in the God beyond all the names and attributes by which the respective religions have described their vision of the Sacred Mystery of Being? Does it matter? Does it matter if the result of one’s religious observance and practice yields the experience of being absolutely safe? I know there would be a clamor should I suggest such an idea beyond the confines of this safe place. I can hear the objections already: © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page11   Is there not such a thing as Truth? Are you suggesting a relativity that makes no distinctions? Etc. Etc. I know. I know. But consider: what greater fruit can religion offer and provide than the feeling of being absolutely safe? Could one not live a fully human existence if grounded in such an experience: And could one not face one’s end with serenity if such was one’s experience? With all this on my mind, I attended a funeral yesterday at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. A lovely woman who was a team member for many years at Christ Community Church working with children in the education program lost her husband at age 58. He was not really an observant Catholic but had been baptized and confirmed at St. Pat’s and thus the funeral was there. I know the pastor, a warm, inviting person and was greeted warmly as I entered the sanctuary. “Ave Maria” was being sung. Then the processional, candles and cross and vestments. I was feeling very much at home. The manner of the priest was gracious, warm and embracing – no pomp and circumstance. He even handed out suckers to the few children in attendance The liturgy was followed, but minimally. The homily was given in a friendly nonthreatening, inviting manner. The gospel passage from Matthew 25 about the Sheep and the Goats was read and referred to. The theology was straightforward atonement-centered – Jesus died for our sins – he took our place opening access to God and eternal life. We were all invited to receive the gift of salvation. It is a theology I once held without question but have come to understand quite differently, but it didn’t really matter. The priest’s manner, as I said, was nonthreatening, non-judgmental and very genuine and sincere As I said above, with all of today on my mind, I found the whole experience quite wonderful. The dogmatic framework out of which the priest was speaking did not matter to me. What did matter was his manner, his obvious care for the grieving, his assurances, his goodness and kindness, the affirmation of the deceased and the hope expressed. I sensed that the family and friends were hearing through it all the affirmation – Your loved one is absolutely safe and you are as well. I was quite conscious of that sense pervading the sanctuary, no doubt because I have been reflecting on that declaration as a summation of what in religious parlance we mean by salvation. For me, as for others there, of course, there was not only the beautiful humanity of the priest but also “Ave Maria”, stained glass, the twenty-third Psalm sung and the Gospel read, cross and candles and the beauty of the sanctuary. The Story – the Symbols – the Setting – All of it “speaking” good news – you are absolutely © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem Page12   safe! Safe because your life is held and comprehended by something greater than you, the Ground of Being, experienced through story and symbol – through posture, gesture, vesture, through liturgy and music. I don’t mean to be boastful when I say it takes a great deal of maturity to sense in all of that that one is absolutely safe. It has taken me a lifetime of study and struggle, of questioning and wondering. I really don’t need Bill Maher to tell me religious practice, observance and dogma is all too commonly religulous. Of course it is because we religious folk are not infrequently ridiculous – arrogant, ignorant, tribal, exclusive, dogmatic and judgmental. But religion is not religulous; in its vast variety of expression and observance it is humanizing and elevating, inspiring and a catalyst for the best and the highest of human achievement and nobility. And it functions thus at its best when our human experience in the Presence of that which holds us has assured us we are absolutely safe. O Lord, you have searched me And known me…. Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your Presence?… Search me, O God, and know my heart …and lead me in the way everlasting. For in your Presence, within or “outside”, I am absolutely safe. After the morning experience in the sanctuary, last evening we attended a neighborhood gathering at a home across the street from our own. On our neighbor’s deck, I watched the brilliant sunset as the sun slipped into Lake Michigan, leaving a golden afterglow. Walking home an hour later, darkness had set in and the sky was inky black, but across the vast expanse of heaven’s canopy sparkled myriad stars as diamonds. To the west where the last traces of gold had been erased, the Evening Star was brightly shining; to the south, massive Jupiter could be seen; to the north the Big Dipper twinkled. My heart leapt within me; the words of my favorite mantra came to my awareness: All will be well, All will be well; All manner of things will be well. And I knew I was absolutely safe! References: Paul Tillich. The Shaking of the Foundations, a collection of sermons. © Grand Valley State University �The God We Cannot Flee Richard A. Rhem © Grand Valley State University Page13   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Scripture Text Psalm 139 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Paul Tillich. The Shaking of the Foundations, a collection of sermons, 1948. 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-0-20081019 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-10-19 Title A name given to the resource The God We Cannot Flee 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 October 19, 2008 entitled "The God We Cannot Flee", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Psalm 139. 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 Immanence of God Nature of Spiritual Experience https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/83a020fed34ad2daec4717ca8cc2fbe9.pdf 336c47ab32af1445c37db5ad5a199b18 PDF Text Text Easter Reflection Luke 24:13-35 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mothers’ Trust Ganges, Michigan April 19, 2009 Prepared Text of Sermon   Last week another Easter – the highest Holy Day of the Christian Calendar, the culmination of the Season of Lent and the darkness of Holy Week. The day dawns and the faithful shout, “The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed.” The worship of Easter is magnificent; the music lifts one into ecstasy and the message of resurrection assures that when darkness has done its darkest deed, God acts to assure that in the end the evil foe is defeated, the agents of evil are vanquished and the final word is light not darkness, joy, not sadness, triumph, not defeat.   Why  then  would  I  rather  preach  on  Palm  Sunday  than  Easter;  Maundy  Thursday   than  Easter;  Good  Friday  than  Easter?  This  is  in  fact  the  case.  I’ve  been  aware  of  it   for  several  years.  During  those  years  I  have  loved  our  Easter  worship  –  the  liturgy,   the  music,  the  whole  setting  so  fraught  with  spring  –new  life,  new  beginning   expressed  in  the  décor  of  the  day.  But  the  sermon;  that  has  been  the  rub.     In  a  sermon  entitled  “The  End  Is  Life,”  Frederick  Buechner  refers  to  the  Jewish   leaders  coming  to  Pilate  to  have  a  guard  set  at  the  Tomb  lest  the  disciples  come  and   steal  the  body.  Pilate  responds,  go  ahead  –  make  it  as  secure  as  you  can.  Then   Buechner  raises  the  question  “How  do  soldiers  secure  the  world  against  a  miracle?”   And  he  continues,  pointing  to  the  fact  that  one  can  do  a  great  deal  in  defense  against   miracles  –  and  he  points  an  accusing  finger  at  preachers  on  Easter:     …. How does an old man keep the sun from rising? How do soldiers secure the world against miracle?   Yet  maybe  it  is  not  as  hard  as  they  feared.  I  suspect  that  many  of  us  could   have  greatly  reassured  them.  I  suspect  that  many  of  us  could  tell  them  that  all   in  all  there  is  a  lot  one  can  do  in  defense  against  miracle,  and,  unless  I  badly   miss  my  guess,  there  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  ministers  doing   precisely  that  at  any  given  instant  –  making  it  as  secure  as  they  can,  that  is,   which  is  really  quite  secure  indeed.    The  technique  of  the  chief  priests  and   the  Pharisees  was  to  seal  the  tomb  with  a  boulder  and  then  to  post  a  troop  of   guards  to  keep  watch  over  it;  but  even  for  its  time  that  was  crude.  The  point   © Grand Valley State University   �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 2   is  not  to  try  to  prevent  the  thing  from  happening  –  like  trying  to  stop  the   wind  with  a  machine  gun  –  but,  every  time  it  happens,  somehow  to  explain  it   away,  to  deflect  it,  defuse  it,  in  one  way  or  another  to  dispose  of  it.  And  there   are  at  least  as  many  ways  of  doing  this  as  there  are  sermons  preached  on   Easter  Sunday.          (Frederick  Buechner,  The  Magnificent  Defeat,  p.  77)     Those words have rattled me for a long time – that book of Buechner’s sermons was published in 1966. Buechner was an ordained Presbyterian minister but, I think, never served a congregation or preached much at all. He was a writer and a great writer he is, stimulating as in this Easter sermon and as a good preacher should be –troubling!   Buechner  illustrates  what  he  means  when  he  accuses  preachers  of  Easter  sermons   deflecting  or  defusing  the  miracle  of  resurrection:     We  can  say  that  the  story  of  the  Resurrection  means  simply  that  the   teachings  of  Jesus  are  immortal  like  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  or  the  music  of   Beethoven  and  that  their  wisdom  and  truth  will  live  on  forever.  Or  we  can   say  that  the  Resurrection  means  that  the  spirit  of  Jesus  is  undying,  that  he   himself  lives  on  among  us,  the  way  that  Socrates  does,  for  instance,  in  the   good  that  he  left  behind  him,  in  the  lives  of  all  who  follow  his  great  example.   Or  we  can  say  that  the  language  in  which  the  Gospels  describe  the   Resurrection  of  Jesus  is  the  language  of  poetry  and  that,  as  such,  it  is  not  to  be   taken  literally  but  as  pointing  to  a  truth  more  profound  than  the  literal.  Very   often,  I  think,  this  is  the  way  that  the  Bible  is  written,  and  I  would  point  to   some  of  the  stories  about  the  birth  of  Jesus,  for  instance,  as  examples;  but  in   the  case  of  the  Resurrection,  this  simply  does  not  apply  because  there  really   is  no  story  about  the  Resurrection  in  the  New  Testament.  Except  in  the  most   fragmentary  way,  it  is  simply  proclaimed  as  a  fact.  Christ  is  risen!  In  fact,  the   very  existence  of  the  New  Testament  itself  proclaims  it.  Unless  something   very  real  indeed  took  place  on  that  strange,  confused  morning,  there  would   be  no  New  Testament,  no  Church,  no  Christianity.  (p.  77f)     After seven years of pastoral ministry, four in Spring Lake and three in New Jersey, I left for Europe where I studied for four years at the University of Leiden in The Netherlands. I had considered graduate study when I was in Seminary but after four years of college and three years of seminary study – at age 25 – I was ready to realize my goal of becoming a pastor.   I  was  very  conservative  –  an  orthodox  Reformed  pastor.  I  was  very  serious  and  very   insecure  I  now  realize.  I  dotted  the  i’s  and  crossed  the  t’s;  I  was  also  defensive   against  any  question  raised  to  my  orthodox  Reformed  theology.  I  didn’t  really   understand  that  then  but  I  have  come  to  realize  that  the  posture  of  certitude  I   displayed  was  a  cover  for  a  deep-­‐seated  fear  that  Christian  faith  as  I  understood  it   and  believed  it  might  not  be  able  to  withstand  the  assaults  of  modernity  and  the   ongoing  explosion  of  knowledge  in  all  areas  of  human  inquiry.  If  I  remember   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 3   correctly,  it  was  not  a  question  whether  or  not  my  faith  understanding  was  true;   with  all  my  being  I  believed  it  to  be  the  truth  based  on  Scriptural  revelation  and   Reformed  confessional  interpretation.  My  hidden  worry  was  that  that  truth  might   not  prevail  in  the  battle  of  opposing  theologies,  philosophies  and  modern  science.     In  reflection  on  those  early  years  of  ministry  I  now  realize  that  I  was  really  scared  to   death  because,  ironically,  I  was  a  good  enough  student  to  sense  the  very  real   challenges  that  were  raised  against  my  very  narrow  and  parochial  views.  In  other   words,  I  “got”  the  questions  even  though  I  could  hardly  have  let  that  fact  arise  in  my   consciousness.     Eventually  the  questions  “got”  me.  After  seven  years  of  preaching  and  pastoral   ministry,  I  finally  arrived  at  the  place  where  I  no  longer  had  answers  for  all  the   questions  but  began  to  discern  the  questions.  It  was  time  to  face  those  questions  by   fulfilling  the  postponed  adventure  of  further  study  and  that  in  Europe  where   Professor  Hendrikus  Berkhof,  theologian  of  the  Hervormde  Kerk  on  the  faculty  of   the  University  of  Leiden,  took  me  on  and  became  my  mentor.  For  four  years  I  read   voraciously,  took  in  lectures,  sermons  and  had  frequent  appointments  with   Professor  Berkhof,  who,  for  me,  was  the  perfect  teacher  and  guide.  A  perfect  teacher   for  me  because  he  himself  had  gone  through  the  very  struggle  to  unite  mind  and   heart  that  I  was  going  through.  I  would  raise  my  questions  and  he  would  say,  “Ja,  Ja,   that  is  the  question,”  whereas  what  I  wanted  was  the  answer.  Those  were  marvelous   years  of  intense  theological,  biblical  struggle  with  the  Christian  faith.     Barth  and  Bultmann  were  still  the  leading  lights  of  European  theological  scholarship   along  with  a  growing  host  of  colleagues.  Berkhof  assigned  me  Barth’s  Dogmatics,  Vol.   I,  2  –The  Doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God  –  this  was  the  second  half  of  Volume  I   consisting  of  a  mere  854  pages.  I  had  been  given  the  impression  at  Western   Theological  Seminary  during  my  sojourn  there  in  the  late  50’s  that  Barth  was   suspect;  we  did  not  read  Barth.  But  now,  as  I  did  so,  I  was  amazed.  Not  only  was  he   the  greatest  theologian  of  the  twentieth  century,  he  was  affirming  the  orthodox  faith   in  which  I  had  been  raised  and  educated  and  had  preached.     For  example,  regarding  the  resurrection  about  which  we  are  inquiring  today,  Barth   speaks  of  it  as  the  miracle  at  the  end  of  Jesus’  presence  in  history  as  the  Incarnate   God.  At  the  beginning,  the  miracle  of  the  virgin  birth  indicating  Jesus  was  not  the   product  of  human  capability.  He  was  in  history  but  did  not  arise  out  of  history.  And   at  the  end,  the  miracle  of  resurrection,  the  empty  tomb,  the  sign  that  death  was   overcome.  These  are  Barth’s  own  words:     Now it is no accident that for us the Virgin birth is paralleled by the miracle of which the Easter witness speaks, the miracle of the empty tomb. These two miracles belong together. They constitute, as it were, a single sign, the special function of which, compared with other signs and wonders of the New Testament witness, is to describe and mark out the existence of Jesus Christ, amid the many © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 4   other existences in human history, as that human historical existence in which God is Himself, God is alone, God is directly the Subject, the temporal reality of which is not only called forth, created, conditioned and supported by the eternal reality of God, but is identical with it. The Virgin birth at the opening and the empty tomb at the close of Jesus’ life bear witness that this life is a fact marked off from all the rest of human life, and marked off in the first instance, not by our understanding or our interpretation, but by itself. Marked off in regard to its origin: it is free of the arbitrariness which underlies all our existences. And marked off in regard to its goal: it is victorious over the death to which we are all liable. Only within these limits is it what it is and is it correctly understood, as the mystery of the revelation of God. It is to that mystery that these limits point – he who ignores them or wishes them away must see to it that he is not thinking of something quite different from this…. The  mutual  relationship  between  these  two  limits  may  perhaps  be  defined   thus.  The  Virgin  birth  denotes  particularly  the  mystery  of  revelation.  It   denotes  the  fact  that  God  stands  at  the  start  where  real  revelation  takes  place   –  God  and  not  the  arbitrary  cleverness,  capability,  or  piety  of  man.  In  Jesus   Christ  God  comes  forth  out  of  the  profound  hiddenness  of  His  divinity  in  order   to  act  as  God  among  us  and  upon  us.  That  is  revealed  and  made  visible  to  us  in   the  sign  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  but  it  is  grounded   upon  the  fact  signified  by  the  Virgin  birth,  that  here  in  this  Jesus  God  Himself   has  really  come  down  and  concealed  Himself  in  humanity.  It  is  because  He   was  veiled  here  that  He  could  and  had  to  unveil  Himself  as  He  did  at  Easter.   The  empty  tomb,  on  the  other  hand,  denotes  particularly  the  revelation  of  the   mystery….That  God  Himself  in  His  complete  majesty  was  one    with  us,  as  the   Virgin  birth  indicates,  is  verified  in  what  the  empty  tomb  indicates,  that  here   in  this  Jesus  the  living  God  has  spoken  to  us  men  in  accents  we  cannot  fail  to   hear.  Because  He  has  unveiled  Himself  here  as  the  One  He  is,  we  may  and   must  say  what  the  Christmas  messages  says,  that  unto  you  is  born  this  day  the   Saviour.  The  mystery  at  the  beginning  is  the  basis  of  the  mystery  at  the  end;   and  by  the  mystery  of  the  end  the  mystery  of  the  beginning  becomes  active   and  knowable.  And  since  this  is  so,  the  same  objective  content  is  signified  in   the  one  case  by  the  miracle  of  the  Virgin  birth,  in  the  other  by  the  miracle  of   the  empty  tomb….      (Dogmatics:  The  Doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God,  Vol  1).     This  is  what  I  had  always  believed.  The  master  theologian  of  the  century  affirming   the  objective,  literal  reality  of  the  Virgin  birth  and  the  bodily  resurrection  that  left   the  tomb  empty.     One  might  suspect  that  my  faith  journey  would  have  been  satisfied  with  this  brilliant   scholar  affirming  my  own  faith  understanding  from  childhood  through  long  years  of   education  and  orthodox  preaching.  Strangely  that  did  not  turn  out  to  be  the  case.  At   that  point  in  my  experience  it  was  no  longer  enough  to  say,  “The  Bible  says….”  I  was   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 5   quite  surprised  myself  but  I  began  to  question  Barth’s  bold  claim  of  biblical  teaching   as  the  Word  of  God  not  to  be  questioned.     As  I  continued  my  study  I  was  guided  by  Berkhof  to  a  movement  of  young  scholars   who  had  been  the  students  of  Karl  Barth  and  Rudolf  Bultmann.  As  happens   repeatedly,  in  the  course  of  historical  development,  whether  in  religion  or  politics  or   the  broader  cultural  milieu,  there  is    action  and  reaction.  Questions  addressed  by   one  generation  leave  unanswered  questions  struggled  with  by  a  previous   generation.  I  came  to  realize  how  the  “climate  of  opinion”  of  a  period  has  much  to  do   with  the  issues  addressed  and  the  manner  of  that  address.  I  was  beginning  to  see   that  the  strong  reaction  of  Karl  Barth  to  nineteenth  century  liberalism  was  precisely   that  –  a  strong  reaction.       In  order  to  put  Barth’s  Neo-­‐Orthodox  movement  in  context,  we  need  to  understand   that  against  which  he  reacted.  In  the  compass  of  this  paper  it  is  not  possible  to  do   justice  to  the  whole  development  of  the  Age  of  Reason  or  the  Enlightenment.  It  is  a   period  beginning  in  the  seventeenth  century  but  usually  identified  with  the   eighteenth  century.  It  was  a  period  in  which  human  reason  was  understood  as  the   primary  source  for  ascertaining  truth  and  the  only  legitimate  court  of  appeal  for   authority.  The  dogmatic  structure  of  the  Christian  faith  based  on  divine  revelation   contained  in  the  Bible  was  called  in  question.  The  foundations  were  shaking.  The  old   supernaturalism  was  under  serious  threat.       Into  such  a  context  Frederich  Schleiermacher  (1768  –  1834)  was  born  and  into   which  he  emerged  as  a  leading  theological  voice  and  is  recognized  as  the  father  of   liberalism.  It  was  his  recognition  of  the  serious  intellectual  challenge  faced  by   Christian  theology  that  Schleiermacher  felt  compelled  to  find  another  foundation  for   religion.  The  intellectual  climate  of  opinion  was  allied  against  supernaturally   inspired  doctrines  and  was  moving  orthodox  Christian  theology  towards  the   periphery  of  intellectual  and  social  life.  Schleiermacher  sought  a  new  foundation  for   religion  in  human  experience,  in  an  innate  awareness  of  God.  He  found  the  ground  of   religion  in  human  feeling,  in  the  feeling  of  absolute  dependence.     For  Schleiermacher,  then,  and  ‘knowledge’  in  religion,  in  an  intellectual   sense,  could  only  be  a  reflection  upon  the  conscious  feelings  of  relationship   to  the  divine,  not  a  description  or  analysis  directly  of  the  divine  per  se  (but,  as   we  saw  in  Section  1,  pp.  36ff.,  neither  were  the  feelings  those  of  the  self  per   se,  in  isolation  from  what  is  other).  Schleiermacher  was  among  the  first  to   realize  that  theology  defeats  its  own  purpose  if  it  speaks  of  God  as  if  he  were   simply  another  ‘object’,  distinguished  from  other  ‘objects’  only  by  being   ‘greater’  and  ‘removed  from’  the  finite  world.  Such  a  ‘God’  is  less  than  the   truly  Infinite  One  present  in  and  to  the  whole  universe.  Such  a  view  of  God,   says  Schleiermacher,  ‘as  one  single  being  outside  of  the  world  and  behind  the   world  is  not  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  religion’.  True  religion  is  not  this  –   or  any  other  –  idea  but  ‘immediate  consciousness  of  the  Deity  as  he  is  found   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 6   in  ourselves  and  in  the  world.’  It  is  the  immediate  consciousness  which  is  the   material  upon  which  theology  works  directly.  This  is  the  basic  tenet  of   Schleiermacher  which  has  drawn  the  later  neo-­‐orthodox  fire,  charging  that   he  has  substituted  human  feelings,  human  religiosity,  human  psychology  and   subjectivity  for  the  proper  subject-­‐matter  of  theology,  namely  God’s  divinity   and  purpose  as  self-­‐revealed  in  his  Word.  Again,  the  charge  must  be  set   against  the  evidence  that  Schleiermacher  was  interested  in  the  ‘emotions’   precisely  because  they  did    point  beyond  themselves  to  the  reality  which  had   stimulated  them.   (Keith  W.  Clements,  Freidrich  Schleiermacher,  Pioneer  of  Modern  Theology,  p.   44f)     There you have it – the “climate of opinion” that moved Schleiermacher to seek a new foundation for human religion because he saw the old foundation washing away – a foundation of revelational truth in the Bible and the dogmatic structure of Christian theology – and in quite another “climate of opinion” – a Europe in shambles post-World War I sensing the bankruptcy of nineteenth century liberalism ripe for “a Word from the Lord”!   As indicated above, Professor Berkhof pointed me to a circle of scholars, some the former students of Karl Barth, who were no longer satisfied, as I found I was not, with the denial of the Enlightenment challenge to the dogmatic claim of supernatural revelation in the Bible along with the refusal to investigate the historical roots of scripture. The critical study of scripture arose in the eighteenth century and became a significant discipline in the nineteenth century but Barth turned his back on it. But his students re-visited those questions. To claim God visited our historical scene but to refuse to seek verification for that “sojourn in the human” did not satisfy this movement of younger scholars.   The  reason  I  am  going  into  all  of  this  is  that  the  focus  of  this  investigation  of   historical  verification  was  Jesus’  resurrection.     Given  his  historical  context  –  his  moment  in  the  unfolding  of  the  human  story,  Karl   Barth  had  a  word  that  resonated  deeply  with  his  contemporaries.  But   Schleiermacher  had  not  imagined  a  crisis  of  Christian  faith  in  the  nineteenth   century.  Another  great  Christian  scholar  had  addressed  the  Christian  tradition  in   light  of  the  rise  of  historical  thinking  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Ernst  Troeltsch  did   major  work  in  addressing  the  question  of  the  historical  claims  of  Christian  faith  –   that  whole  discussion  I  cannot  go  into  here  except  to  underscore  my  point  that  real   questions  do  not  go  away  if  they  are  legitimate  questions.  After  the  Barthian   clearing  of  the  decks  of  such  questions  they  reappeared  because  they  were  real   questions.     The  young  scholar  that  spoke  to  me  was  Wolfhart  Pannenberg.  I  will  not  attempt  to   set  forth  his  theology  of  history  here.  It  is  complex  and  impressive.  In  sum,  he   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 7   sought  to  give  historical  verification,  to  the  extent  that  is  possible,  for  the   resurrection  of  Jesus.  He  was  close  to  Barth  in  his  conclusion  but  only  after  placing   the  resurrection  in  a  full  historical  tradition.  It  was  on  such  theological  puzzles  that  I   was  beginning  to  write  when  I  left  Europe  and  took  up  my  ministry  once  again  in   Spring  Lake.     And  it  was  out  of  all  that  theological  wrestling  that  I  began  to  preach  and,  indeed,   preached  for  years.  But  I  had  not  arrived.  I  was  definitely  a  work  in  progress.  I  do   remember  early  on  in  my  preaching  and  teaching  saying,  “Give  me  Jesus  and  the   resurrection  and  all  else  is  negotiable.”  That  gave  me  a  message  for  those  years  of   my  return  to  preaching.     I  was  ready  for  the  third  quest  of  the  historical  Jesus.  I  haven’t  referred  to  the  Quest   of  the  Historical  Jesus  in  the  nineteenth  century  but  there  was  a  serious  address  of   this  matter  with  lives  of  Jesus  published,  each  trying  to  recover  the  historical  figure   in  his  context.  Without  filling  in  that  chapter  I  will  only  refer  to  what  is  sometimes   called  the  Third  Quest.  The  second  was  occurring  while  I  was  in  Europe  in  the  late   60’s  but  did  not  become  the  catalyst  for  a  major  movement.  But  in  1991  John   Dominic  Crossan  produced  a  serious  and  ambitious  study  entitled  The  Historical   Jesus  –  The  Life  of  a  Mediterranean  Jewish  Peasant.  That  subtitle  speaks  volumes  and   Crossan  delivers  on  the  subject.     In  1987  another  Jesus  scholar,  Marcus  Borg,  published  Jesus  –  A  New  Vision.  Again   the  subtitle  gives  the  clue  to  the  contents:  Spirit,  Culture  and  the  Life  of  Discipleship.   In  1994  he  published  Meeting  Jesus  Again  for  the  First  Time  which  became  widely   popular.  Crossan  could  not  believe  his  dense  scholarly  treatment  should  have   become  a  bestseller  which  was  also  the  case  with  Borg  whose  works  are  scholarly   but  carry  a  pastoral/spiritual  tone  along  with  the  research.  Both  scholars  were  part   of  a  group  called  the  Jesus  Seminar.  I  will  not  delineate  the  work  of  Crossan,  Borg   and  others  here  but  only  indicate  that  here  was  a  fresh  approach  in  our  time  to   locate  Jesus  in  his  social,  cultural,  political  context.  I  received  these  studies  with   great  profit.  On  the  basis  of  my  earlier  contention  that  there  is  in  any  historical   period  a  “climate  of  opinion”  I  would  add  that  that  is  also  the  case  in  our  individual   lives;  there  are  times  and  periods  when  our  heart  and  mind  are  open  to  movement,   when  we  sense  a  hunger,  a  yearning  for  something  more  as  we  encounter  the   vicissitudes  of  our  life  journey.  At  any  rate  this  was  true  in  my  case.     My  European  study  had  continued  to  ground  my  preaching.  In  the  years  following   my  return  to  the  Church  in  1971  I  kept  reading  and  reflecting  and  when  one  is   engaged  in  weekly  preaching  and  teaching,  constant  reading,  reflection  and  writing   are  demanded  of  one.  I  cannot  now  trace  precisely  how  my  focus  on  and   understanding  of  Jesus  developed  but  I  know  I  was  becoming  more  fascinated  by  the   life  of  Jesus  than  in  the  early  creedal  dogmatic  delineation  of  the  risen  Christ  of  faith.   In  my  file  I  have  a  sermon  of  April  15,  1984  entitled  “Jesus  You  are  Really   Something”.  The  gist  of  that  sermon  is  acknowledgment  that  to  that  point  in  my  life,   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 8   my  spiritual  hero  was  Dietrich  Bonhoeffer  whose  following  of  the  way  of  Jesus  led   him  to  oppose  Hitler  and  National  Socialism,  for  which  he  paid  with  his  life  just   before  the  end  of  World  War  II  on  April  8,  1945,  at  the  prison  camp  at  Flossenburg.   April  15,  1984,  was  Palm  Sunday  and  my  text  was  from  Luke  19:41  –  “when  he   beheld  the  city,  he  wept  over  it.”     Looking  back  over  the  years  I  realize  something  was  at  work  in  me.  Jesus,  the  human   being,  was  coming  alive  for  me  in  the  context  of  his  historical  period.  Here  was  one   who  had  spoken  truth  to  power  and  for  that  reason  was  crucified.  As  Dominic   Crossan  declares,  at  the  communion  table  where  there  is  bread  symbolizing  body   and  cup  symbolizing  blood,  body  and  blood  are  separated  pointing  to  violent  death.   Jesus  did  not  die  of  old  age,  peacefully  in  his  bed.     Something  was  germinating  in  me  in  the  80’s  which  was  ready  to  spring  into  flower   in  the  90’s.  Scholars,  especially  Crossan  and  Borg,  put  Jesus  in  context  for  me  such   that  I  saw  the  heroism  of  Bonhoeffer  as  replicating  the  way  of  Jesus,  which  of  course   meant  that,  for  me,  Jesus  now  becomes  the  great  exemplar  of  human  life  before  the   face  of  God,  full  of  love  and  grace  and  compassion  with  the  courage  to  live  out  his   vision  faithfully.     Palm  Sundays  seem  to  be  critical  points  in  my  own  development.  It  was  April  4,   1993,  Palm  Sunday,  that  my  sermon  was  entitled  “Jesus  Died  Because  of  Our  Sins,   Not  For  Them”.  Not  surprisingly,  the  text  was  Luke’s  Palm  Sunday  account  –  once   again,  Jesus  weeping  over  Jerusalem.  This  was  a  radical  claim.  I  was  transforming   the  cross  of  Jesus  from  a  place  of  atonement  where  Jesus’  death  was  a  bearing  of  the   sin  of  the  world  to  procure  salvation  for  the  world  to  a  place  of  crucifixion  where  the   political  and  religious  establishment  powers  were  killing  one  who  became  a  threat   to  law  and  order,  one  who  in  the  best  prophetic  tradition  of  Israel  spoke  his  truth,   his  vision  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.     This  Jesus  moved  me  deeply.  It  was  this  Jesus  I  wanted  to  emulate.  It  was  this  Jesus  I   could  love  with  my  whole  being.  This  weeping  one,  this  bleeding  one.  This  one  who,   in  his  anguish  prayed,  “Father  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  are  doing.”     This  Jesus  who  experienced  the  darkness  of  crushed  dreams,  feeling  abandoned,   crying,  “My  God,  why…?”     This  Jesus  who  finally  committed  his  cause,  himself,  to  God,  “Father,  into  Thy  hands  I   commit  my  spirit,”  entrusting  himself,  his  cause,  his  whole  being  to  God  whom  he   called  Father.     As  for  Frederich  Beuchner  with  whom  I  began,  whose  accusation  that  so  many   preachers  defuse  the  miracle  of  Easter  in  their  Easter  sermons,  I  can  only  say  I  don’t   really  know  about  an  empty  tomb  and  I  don’t  really  care  to  spend  time  and  energy   trying  to  prove  the  historicity  of  the  resurrection.  There  are  differing  accounts  of   © Grand Valley State University �Easter Reflection Richard A. Rhem Page 9   Easter  in  the  four  Gospels  and  Paul,  and  one  cannot  really  harmonize  them.  Volumes   have  been  written  on  this  biblical  puzzle  and  it  really  doesn’t  interest  me.  For  me  it   is  enough  to  believe  he  arose  into  the  Mystery  we  name  God  and  he  lives  because  he   continues  to  appear  to  those  whose  lives  are  transformed  in  that  encounter.     Perhaps  my  favorite  Easter  story  is  the  Emmaus  Road  encounter.  Jesus  overtakes   two  disciples  on  their  way  home  from  Jerusalem,  dejected  and  full  of  despair.  He   joins  them  on  the  way  but  they  do  not  recognize  him.  He  speaks  to  them  of  their   scriptures  and  when  they  reach  the  village  they  invite  him  to  join  them  in  their   home.  The  table  is  set  and  then  the  guest  becomes  the  host.  He  took  bread,  blessed   and  broke  it,  and  gave  it  to  them.  “Then  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  recognized   him;  and  he  vanished  from  their  sight.”  They  returned  to  Jerusalem,  found  the   disciples  and  others  gathered  declaring,  “The  Lord  has  risen  indeed…”  and  the  two   Emmaus  pilgrims  told  their  story,  telling  the  group  “how  he  had  been  made  known   to  them  in  the  breaking  of  the  bread.”     This  is  how  Crossan  describes  that  encounter  recorded  by  Luke:   The metaphoric condensation of the first years of early Christian thought and practice into one parabolic afternoon. Emmaeus never happened. Emmaeus always happens. (A Revolutionary Biography, p. 197) That,  Rev.  Beuchner,  is  the  best  I  can  do.  And  for  me  it  is  enough  for  He  lives  and   continues  to  be  the  agent  of  human  personal  and  social  transformation.  The  Lord  is   risen  indeed! References Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, Vol.I.1: The Doctrine of the Word of God. John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994. John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. © 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 Scripture Text Luke 24:13-35 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges 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-0-20090419 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-04-19 Title A name given to the resource Easter Reflection 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 April 19, 2009 entitled "Easter Reflection", on the occasion of Eastertide, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Luke 24:13-35. 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fe12176309734f9516a0b7edc2ba590c.pdf 425adf29020eb07917859042f281f354 PDF Text Text Can the Eagle and the Dove Fly Together? A Reflection on the Way of Jesus and a Nation’s Imperial Designs Matthew 5:38-48; Luke 4:6 – 21; Acts 1: 1-11; 2: 1-3 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan Memorial Day Weekend, May 24, 2009 Were we to celebrate Memorial Day on the date originally set for its observance – May 30 – rather than as we observe it in 2009, May 25, it would be followed immediately by the Festival of Pentecost which in 2009 is Sunday, May 31, a week from today. The conjunction of these two observances is not always in such close proximity since on the Christian calendar, Easter is a movable feast which means it is not tied to a specific date as was Memorial Day originally – May 30. A movable feast, as its name implies, moves to different dates; it falls in the western church on the Sunday following the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the vernal, or Spring, equinox. However, it occurs often enough around mid-April that over many years of setting up a preaching schedule and liturgical themes, I am acutely aware of the conjoining of the observance of Pentecost and Memorial Day. Why do I say “acutely aware”? That takes me back quite a few years – one of those years when the Sunday service was Pentecost on the Christian Calendar and, the following day, the Memorial Day observance which, of course, would be observed in the church on the Sunday before – in this case, Pentecost Sunday. Being considerably younger and a bit naïve, I assumed we should observe Pentecost, one of the major festivals of the Christian calendar – the observance we marked as the birthday of the Church. The Festival of the Holy Spirit was a lively celebration – the liturgical color was red and the people were encouraged to wear red apparel. The music was celebratory, often there were liturgical dancers and the whole service was upbeat. It was the culmination of the Christian year – a six-month remembering and rehearsal of the life of Jesus, the Anointed One, or the Christ. My naiveté was revealed in the fact that I assumed such a full and rich observance of a high holy day ruled out any notice of the national observance of Memorial Day. That omission gave great offence to some and I heard about it. Even now, in my fading awareness in this the springtime of my senility, I remember the name and face of one dear woman who was deeply offended. © Grand Valley State University   �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In all honesty, I was totally unaware that there might be such a reaction. It simply did not occur to me that the celebration of Pentecost in the Church should be wedded to a national celebration. But I’m a quick study. Ever after, when the two observances fell on the same weekend, Pentecost was central but Memorial Day got notice in the hymns – the National Hymn, for example, and in the prayers. I didn’t want to face the wrath of the patriot again. I compromised. I set this before you because it strikes me as a very great irony that a national holiday of remembrance of a nation’s war dead should rival the celebration of one of the most significant days on the church calendar – the Festival of the Holy Spirit. The national symbol is the eagle; the symbol of the Spirit is the dove. I raise the question: can the eagle and the dove fly together? Or, perhaps, more fittingly, is there place in the religious community, in my case the Christian community, for the spirit of patriotism and nationalism? To state the issue from another angle, how is it that the religion that issued from Jesus has become the majority religion of a nation bent on empire, on global domination? How are empires created? Is it not finally by military power? How are empires perpetuated? Is it not by military power? What marks empires during their time of dominance? Is it not fear? Aware always of any threat to that dominance, must not an empire be ever on the alert? Must it not be quick to recognize any challenge? Must it not scan the horizon for any rising power? Must it not keep its weapon systems up to date? Must it not be watchful of unrest anywhere that might explode into widespread conflagration? Is it not an irony that a so-called Christian nation – though that claim should be challenged – should have imperial designs when the one we purportedly follow called his followers to love and not to fear. As one of the New Testament writers put it succinctly: God is love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. This has been a trigger for much broader reflection on the relationship of religious vision and nationalism. In my religious faith commitment as a Christian, specifically as one who would follow the Way of Jesus, increasingly I see a great tension between American imperial designs and that Way to which Jesus beckons me. It is really a luxury to be retired, not to have to worry about institutional concerns, about membership rolls or budget matters. I have been a “late bloomer” and that is probably a good thing because my ongoing – what I hope is a deepening – grasp of the Gospel – the Way of Jesus – creates a growing tension in me as an American citizen and a follower of Jesus. © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   That calls for clarification. Let me be clear; I do love this nation. I see the American experience as one of the great human achievements. I value our democratic values, our freedom, our constitutional vision and the rule of law. And I understand as well the emotional ties that bind us together in national vision and purpose. I remember December 7, 1941. I had two brother-in-laws who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and I remember my sisters who lived at home writing their husbands every evening and watching anxiously for the mailman. I remember the boyfriend of my youngest sister who was rejected for the draft because of a heart murmur and I remember he was depressed. My father told him he should be thankful but he regretted the fact that he could not enter the struggle for his country. I remember the flag that hung in the sanctuary of our church with a star for every serviceman. I remember celebrating in the street V-E Day and V-J Day. I remember, too, the small flags in the windows of homes where a son or daughter was off to war and sometimes a gold star because a son or daughter had been killed in action. I do have some sense of how all of that national emotional experience takes on an aura of the sacred. Deeply felt experience of national existence is similar it seems to deeply felt spiritual experience and I’m quite certain for most ardent observers of this national holiday there is no sense of it being in any way in tension with whatever religious faith they possess. I hope that sets the context for that upon which I invite you to ponder with me – that is, the tension involved in being a follower of Jesus and being a citizen of an imperial power. As I mentioned above, retirement is a luxury for one can set forth one’s thinking honestly, without the trustees nervously suggesting that one might be jeopardizing the institution. But it is even more than that. In my present situation I have no desire to make points, to persuade, convince, convert. And, God knows, I don’t feel compelled to be right, to win an argument. Were I really wise, I would love to be a sage – one who engages others in thoughtful discourse to raise awareness and enable another to think critically about issues and come to deeper understanding, thus enriching their humanity. To set out the tension of the Kingdom of God as embodied in Jesus and Imperial America, I will suggest that for both the church and the nation there has been a serious shift from their founding vision. Let me begin with the Way of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospel, leading to the Pentecost moment, and, three hundred © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   years later, the establishment of the Christian religion as the official religion of the Empire in the days of Emperor Constantine. The Way of Jesus set forth in the Gospels Obviously I will be able to deal with only a very limited Gospel reference, but for our purpose here, I would suggest the references I have selected are critical passages. First, from the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew’s Gospel: Concerning Retaliation 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘ You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(Matthew 5: 38 – 48) Without attempting an in-depth analysis of this “turning the other cheek” paragraph it is obvious that Jesus is calling his disciples to reject absolutely the principle of retaliatory violence. The next paragraph is a call to love one’s enemies and pray for those who persecute one – the model being God who makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain alike on the gardens of the righteous and on the unrighteous. With that as the Heavenly Parent’s example, Jesus calls on his followers to act accordingly, thereby being perfect “as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That word “perfect” needs a word of explanation. The Greek word is teleios from telos which means “end.” End can mean point of termination, cessation, the last part or conclusion. But it can also mean the end as a goal, or the purpose of something, the intention, the aim of an action, the outcome of an endeavor, the destiny which awaits. If one takes these lexical meanings, one might better translate teleios in this context as “mature”. Then Jesus would be calling his followers to emulate God in living and acting maturely as God acts maturely, transcending our natural human responses in our human interactions. © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I chose to cite Matthew rather than the same teaching from Luke’s Gospel because Matthew changes the final call to emulate the heavenly Father from “merciful” to “perfect” or, as I am suggesting, “mature” or “whole”. The source behind this teaching in both Matthew and Luke is a source called “Q” and the word in the “Q” source is the Greek word for “merciful.” Luke keeps it; Matthew changes it and, for the point I am attempting to make, I resonate with the word teleios with the sense of maturity as the realizing of the end for which we were created – a realization that comes by loving, for love alone transforms the human being and the human situation. The New Interpreter’s Bible commentary on Matthew (Vol. VIII, p. 198) has, I believe, helpful comments on the paragraph. Although not given on an institutional level (Jesus does not legislate for worldly courts) but for the private lives of disciples, these commands still have implications for the involvement of these private lives in the public and political decisions for which Christians are responsible. These sayings indicate that Jesus himself must have resisted the militaristic tendencies of those who opposed Rome and who finally plunged the nation into a catastrophic war (66-70 CE). In preserving these sayings and making them the climax of his antitheses, Matthew takes his stand with those who had resisted the catastrophic attempt at a “military solution,” which he and his church had lived through. None of this is a matter of strategy. To turn the other cheek is not to shame the opponent or win him or her over, to cause the enemy to repent. Going the extra mile is not a matter of prudence calculated to keep a low profile when you do not have power and need to “get along.” These sayings express the inherent rule of the kingdom of God, are God’s ultimate way of dealing with humanity exhibited in the life and death of Jesus, who went to the cross. All such hermeneutical considerations are not a matter of watering them down, finding a meaning that does seem reasonable and with which we can live. They are not to be made “reasonable,” for they violate the “common sense” of this world and point to another reality. They ask us whether we are oriented to the God who has redefined power and kingship in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. That last sentence is precisely how I have come to understand the Sermon on the Mount and the imperatives of Jesus – are we “oriented to the God who has redefined power and kingship in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth?” Let me reinforce this view as Jesus’ own self-understanding as Luke presents the story of Jesus. Luke, in the most familiar and best-loved presentation of Jesus’ birth has angels singing, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace, goodwill among people. © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   In the fourth chapter Jesus endures the wilderness temptation which is, in itself, a subject worth study as it seems Luke’s intention to say that Jesus had to choose wisely and be resolute in the means and manner of the execution of his ministry. Returning, Luke tells us, from that bout with temptation, he, filled with God’s Spirit, comes to his hometown, Nazareth, where he is invited to read the scripture in his family synagogue. He reads from the prophet Isaiah (chpt. 42:1f). Luke 4:16f reads, “When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,’ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’” If you go to the passage Jesus read on that occasion you will find Jesus breaks off with the words “the year of the Lord’s favor” and stops mid-sentence for the text of Isaiah 61:2 goes on: “and the day of vengeance of our God.” As I said above, this is Luke’s picture of Jesus, Jesus’ self-understanding as Luke understood it. Luke’s ending with “the year of the Lord’s favor”, rather than continuing with “and the day of the vengeance of our God” cannot have been an accident. That brief description of Jesus’ ministry was one of grace and healing, fully in accord with the passage from Matthew – the call to emulate God in love even of the enemy. Again it is Luke who has Jesus speak from the cross the word of forgiveness full of grace, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”, even as he was being crucified. A moment that never fails to fill me with awe. Move now to the end of Luke’s story – post-Easter. After forty days he tells us in his second volume, The Acts of the Apostles, Jesus leads the disciples out to Bethany where he blesses them and is “carried up into heaven.” And that is where © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   the Acts of the Apostles takes up the story. In chapter 1 he counsels them to remain in Jerusalem where not many days hence, they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. But in the Acts account the disciples ask an all-important question: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” That, of course, was Luke’s question in the 70’s and 80’s C.E. There is a scholarly debate about whether the apocalyptic passages of the gospel reflect Jesus’ own understanding. I tend to side with, for example, Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan who do not believe Jesus was awaiting the apocalyptic coming of God’s Kingdom in which the wicked would be damned and the righteous vindicated as the rule of God comes to earth in God’s dramatic action. And I think Luke told the story of Jesus in which Jesus understood the Kingdom as present already in his ministry. Reading the Isaiah passage he claims, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And, again in his telling of the story he has Jesus respond to the question raised by the disciples, but here raised by the Pharisees: “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, the Kingdom of God is not coming with things than can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ’There it is.’ For, in fact, the Kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17: 20-21) Another possible reading is “The Kingdom is within you.” But to return to the disciples’ question, Jesus responds, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” With that, Jesus is lifted up in a cloud taking him out of their sight. And Chapter 2 opens: “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability.” Such is Luke’s story of Jesus, beginning with his birth, his crucifixion at the time of the Jewish Feast of Passover, resurrection after three days, a forty-day earthly sojourn post-Easter during which there are various appearances and then, ten days later on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 8   As for the question of the Kingdom’s arrival, Jesus says it is not yours to know but Luke answers the question such that there is to be a period of apostolic witness and his Acts of the Apostles is centered mostly in the missionary work of Paul whose story he tells, the story ending with Paul under house arrest in Rome continuing to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom that arrived with Jesus. Through principally Paul’s ministry the Gospel was preached throughout the Roman Empire and churches were founded in the metropolitan centers of the empire. The Jesus movement that began as a Jewish movement found a ready hearing in the Gentile world. That whole history and the Jewish-Gentile tension is another story. But the spread of that early Jesus movement was quite amazing so that three hundred years later the Christian religion had moved from being a persecuted cult to being the lone established religion of the Roman Empire. That too is a story I cannot go into only to say that the Constantinian establishment carried with it great peril for the Christian movement. Imperial recognition carried with it the danger of imperial control. In his first volume of a trilogy Christian Theology in a North American Context, Douglas John Hall writes, One consequence of the establishment for Christian thought has already been alluded to: the emphasis on oneness or unity (the ecumenical or catholic dimension) could never be regarded in purely theological terms after the adoption of the faith by imperial Rome. For now it was bound up with quite specific political aspirations and concepts. When we confess belief in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church” in the Nicene Creed, it is well to remember that fact. On precisely such grounds, Theodosius outlawed all forms of Christianity but the ‘Catholic’ (i.e., the imperially recognized majority) form, at the same time (394 C.E.) as he outlawed the non-Christian religions. Unity, under the conditions of Constantinianism, is defined by secular authority and/or standards of assessment, and it is therefore likely to mean something closer to uniformity than to the oneness for which Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 17). A still more provocative consequence of the establishment for the theology of the church is implied with the mention of Nicaea. Both the councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451) took place under the conditions of Christian establishment. Concretely this means: the church’s doctrinal decisions about (a) the nature of the Godhead (that God is triune) and (b) the person of Jesus (that he is God and man in one historical person) were taken by a church which now conceived itself in the role of official cult to the empire. Indeed, Nicaea was convened by Constantine personally, with the express purpose of putting a stop to Christian differences which could only further divide an already disunited empire. The decisions arrived at in these two pivotal councils were to determine orthodoxy in © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page 9   Theology and Christology up to and including our own time. This is a staggering observation, and from our present perspective we must ask: How would it have influenced the Christian church’s conception of God, and even more explicitly its Christology, if decisions in these key areas of belief had evolved under the conditions of diaspora and persecution rather than those of establishment? In his The Historical Jesus, John Dominic Crossan cites the early Christian historian, Eusebius (Vita Constantine, 3.15): It is hard, indeed, not to get very, very nervous in reading this description of the imperial banquet celebrating the Council of Nicaea’s conclusion: Detachments of the body-guard and troops surrounded the entrance of the palace with drawn swords, and through the midst of them the men of God proceeded without fear into the innermost of the Imperial apartments, in which some were the Emperor’s companions at table, while others reclined on couches arranged on either side. One might have thought that a picture of Christ’s kingdom was thus shadowed forth, and a dream rather than reality. (Eusebius, Vita Constantini 3.15; Brown 1982:16) The meal and the Kingdom still come together, but now the participants are the male bishops, and they recline, with the Emperor himself, to be served by others. Maybe, Christianity is an inevitable and absolutely necessary ‘betrayal” of Jesus, else it might all have died among the hills of Lower Galilee. But did that “betrayal” have to happen so swiftly, succeed so fully, and be enjoyed so thoroughly? Might not a more even dialectic have been maintained between Jesus and Christ in Jesus Christ? Hall sees this danger worked out in the Protestant Church: Protestantism has preferred to limp through most of its history following two paths, ultimately divergent; the path of political quietism or noninterference, and that of personal piety. The cross could sometimes be a meaningful symbol for the latter, but not for the former. Protestantism as the favored religion of Northern European states and their missionary offshoots has been obliged and content to hide even from itself the critical political and social implications of its theology of the cross. (Confessing the Faith, p. 209) Let me suggest that in the establishment of the Christian religion as the official faith of Imperial Rome may be the loss of the Way of Jesus and the ascending of the High Christology that was defined in the Nicene Creed of 325 C.E. and the Chalcedonian Formula of 451 C.E. With those creedal definitions of Jesus as God as well as human, the drama of the cross became a place of atonement where God and the human were reconciled –with all the images that were utilized to describe that drama of salvation. It appears to me that the two paths referred to above by © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page10   Hall emerged very early in the era of establishment – political quietism and personal piety. Only with a posture of political quietism can the Empire tolerate the religious cult of whatever sort. And now, rather than the Jesus movement continuing in the path of its founder, it became a cult of salvation – Jesus as my personal savior. I can be assured of my personal salvation while I live in an imperial state that may be ruthless in its world domination and militarism. With some exceptions, I think that has been the pattern of the Christian Church; co-opted by empire, blessing the status quo, failing to speak truth to power. The Pope may make public statements and take positions on critical issues concerning the international situation but the respective national governments pay little heed. So also with the World Council of Churches or the National Council of Churches. In the meantime the Church continues to offer the gift of salvation in Jesus’ name and do much good in the world among the struggling masses of humankind. The more I become attuned to the Way of Jesus, the more I realize how little I have followed him. The more I realize how irrelevant the church is in a world that is so fraught with danger, the danger of seeing the human experience come to an end in nuclear holocaust, a world in which my own nation has become in our day what Rome was in the day of Jesus. Ironically, Roman Imperial power killed Jesus as a dangerous subversive, one who practiced non-violent resistance to the established order than dominated the world by military might – and then coopted his movement, transforming it into an agency of Empire, a harmless cult of personal salvation. With these growing realizations, you can understand why I feel the tension of being both a follower of Jesus and a citizen of this nation. Tomorrow we will observe Memorial Day and remember those who died on behalf of their country. Somehow it feels so different to me than the days of what Tom Brokaw called The Greatest Generation. To be drafted by one’s nation for service when one’s nation is under threat is honorable. To remember with gratitude the sacrifice of those whose lives were offered up to defend the freedom and security of the nation is right and proper. But it feels different to me when, because of my nation’s imperial designs, a volunteer military is established, not primarily to defend our nation but to be the means of world domination. I suspect few of us are aware of the massive military network spread around the globe with bases on every continent but Antarctica! A massive military-industrial complex warned about by President Eisenhower has become a reality. We, as a nation, are in the grip of imperial domination at a time in the world when the © Grand Valley State University �Can Eagle and Dove Fly Together? Richard A. Rhem Page11   global reality has arrived. Such a reality’s imperative is nuclear disarmament, the end of war and the building of world government. Now and then, here and there, voices have been raised for peace and human community. For example, during the First World War, one of the nation’s greatest preachers offered a prayer to which a response set forth clearly the choice we face: “O, God, bless Germany! At war with her people, we hate them not at all… We acknowledge before Thee our part in the world’s iniquity….we dare not stand in Thy sight and accuse Germany as though she alone were guilty of our international disgrace. We all are guilty.” The brief clip goes on, “Charles Biddle, an American pilot, responded to Fosdick’s prayer by pledging to kill as many ‘Huns’ as he could, saying that, ‘if Christianity requires us to forgive them I am afraid I am no Christian.” (Church HistoryMarch, cited in the Christian Century, May 5, 2009). The American pilot, Biddle, “got it” – The Way of Jesus or the way of war – on the way to human catastrophe. Which will we choose? For me there is only one choice: The Way of Peace as embodied in the Way of Jesus. References: Douglas John Hall. Confessing the Faith: Christian Theology in a North American Context, Vol. I. Fortress Press, 1991. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Memorial Day Weekend, Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Series A Reflection on the Way of Jesus and a Nation's Imperial Designs Scripture Text Matt. 5:38-48, Luke 4:6-21, Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-3 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Douglas John Hall. Confessing the Faith: Christian Theology in a North American Context, Vol.1. Fortress Press, 1991. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20090524 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-05-24 Title A name given to the resource Can the Eagle and the Dove Fly Together? 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 May 24, 2009 entitled "Can the Eagle and the Dove Fly Together?", as part of the series "A Reflection on the Way of Jesus and a Nation's Imperial Designs", on the occasion of Memorial Day Weekend, Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Matt. 5:38-48, Luke 4:6-21, Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-3. 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 Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a89ff2c209d2011a4c5679933926b06b.pdf 17e2b648758d4265f285a6af72917c99 PDF Text Text Just Imagine… Micah 6:8; Luke 10:25-37; John Lennon: “Imagine” Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan July 12, 2009 Having recently celebrated once again our nation’s independence, I have been reflecting on that founding vision in light of this present moment of our history. Let me state my intention up front: Being in awe of the miracle of the founding of these United States and of the vision upon which the nation was founded in the late 18th century, I will suggest that we need an equally radical and visionary declaration for the Age of Global Community into which we have entered. Let’s begin by remembering the miracle of our founding and of the vision that came to expression in our founding documents. Specifically, let me remind you of the creation of our Constitution which is so much under discussion today because of the peril into which it has been placed in this era of American imperial designs. In May 1787, 55 delegates from twelve of the thirteen states gathered in Philadelphia for a Constitutional Convention. The heady days of 1776 and newly won independence had finally been ratified in the Peace of Paris in 1783, but that newly won independence was by now severely strained. The new nation was a confederacy of sovereign states – thirteen sovereign states –not altogether unlike the present European Confederation bound together for purposes of trade. A confederacy is a weak instrument and the respective state legislatures wanted it to stay that way. States rights were the first concern, especially among the more numerous small states that feared being swallowed up by the larger states of Virginia, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. Each state was jealous of their own sovereignty, and without a common enemy to fight, Americans seemed incapable of preserving their union. “Lycurgus,” a pseudonomous writer in the New Haven Gazette, complained that the union under the Articles of Confederation “is not a union of sentiment – it is not a union of interest; – it is not a union to be seen – or felt – or in any manner perceived.” Antifederalists believed that the preservation of republican liberties won by the Revolution depended on maintaining the sovereignty and independence of the States. John Francis Mercer spoke for the Antifederalists when he declared that he was “persuaded © Grand Valley State University   �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   that the People of so large a continent, so different in interests, so distinct in habits,” could not be adequately represented in a single legislature. Patrick Henry, the great orator of the Revolution, would have nothing to do with a central government; Virginia was doing just fine. There were other voices, however, representing a larger vision. George Washington came out of retirement to participate in the Convention, becoming its chairman. James Madison clearly articulated the urgency and critical importance of a strong federal government, warning that, without it, the 13 states simply would not survive. Indeed, in Europe there was little confidence that the fledgling nation would survive and Britain, France and Spain were simply waiting in the wings to move in. The initial years of independence were a sorry tale of weakness and incapacity to govern. Only that authority freely given by the States to the Confederate government could be exercised. There was no power to enact legislation or impose taxes. In the summer of 1786 farmers in western Massachusetts determined to shut down the courts that were threatening foreclosure on their lands due to unpaid taxes. Shays’ rebellion, as it was called, shocked the nation. The impossibility of governing under the present structure was recognized and a Constitutional Convention was called for May of 1787. One month before the Convention, Madison said the hurdles confronting any reform (of the Articles of Confederation) were so great that they “would inspire despair in any case where the alternative was less formidable.” The Convention was called for May 14; it actually began May 25 and serious discussion got underway on May 29. With only one recess, the Convention met for six days a week from 4 to 8 hours a day until September 17, when the document was signed. It was a steamy, hot, humid summer in Philadelphia. One breath followed another with difficulty. Windows had to be kept closed because of the swarms of stinging flies. Madison arrived eleven days early, drafting the Virginia Plan which became the Convention agenda. The smaller states were threatened and unyielding. On June 14, William Paterson of New Jersey submitted the New Jersey Plan as an alternative move to the Virginia Plan, more to the liking of the smaller states. The Convention deadlocked. A committee was appointed to work out a compromise which was offered on July 5, debated until July 14 and finally affirmed on July 16. The compromise was approved by a five to four vote. From then on it was a matter of working out the details. By September 17, our Constitution was signed, ready to be ratified by the respective states. © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Madison was disappointed. He felt that he had lost on critical issues. It fell to Ben Franklin, 81, the wise, elder statesman, to present the document for signing. He said, When you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudice, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly, can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel… Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. Franklin had himself made compromise. He asked that “every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility.” The Constitution of the United States is an amazing document that has served us well and has become a model for nations around the globe. Someone has said it is our most important export. What this document, hammered out in the oppressive heat of a Philadelphia summer, has created and enabled is the highest achievement of human government. Reviewing that history, I was surprised at how tenuous was the establishing of this nation. It was a struggle – a hard-fought battle. Not everyone wanted to be free of the British Crown and, of those who did, there were many who had no vision for the great nation that emerged. We were almost not birthed. That we were was quite miraculous; that there were such leaders of the caliber of Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Franklin and others was quite amazing; and, their vision of the principles upon which our nation is founded, which came to expression in our founding documents, is really amazing. Admittedly we have fallen short of the vision and the visionaries themselves had blind spots. Nonetheless, in Franklin’s words to the Constitutional Convention regarding the Document to be voted on – I consent…to this Constitution, because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. I suspect we would all agree that his estimate was right. This nation was born at the dawn of the modern period. The periodization of history is somewhat arbitrary, I suppose, but most scholars would agree that the 18th century was the blossoming of modernity – the Age of Enlightenment – the Age of Reason. It saw © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   the ascendancy of the human spirit – that was the historical context in which our nation was born. The human spirit began to come to flower in the fifteenth century, and in the Italian Renaissance there was a great expression of art, of sculpture, and of architecture. After that long period of medievalism when the Church was so dominant and so oppressive, where there was linkage between throne and altar, finally, in the fifteenth century, there was a breaking out, a blossoming of the human spirit. I think the sixteenth century of which we are the children – children of the Reformation and the counter-reformation – was perhaps a detour. For a time the authoritarian structures of society once again asserted themselves. But inevitably the human person was going to break out. Our nation was born in that context of history when all forms of authoritarianism were overthrown. There was the assertion of the human spirit. There was the conviction that there was dignity in every human person and that freedom and liberty were the Godgiven and God-intended virtues with which the human being and society were to live. So our nation was born at a point of newness. In the midst of history there is development. There is newness. Sometimes we get so depressed by the present. It seems as though things don’t go anywhere and we get all enmeshed, and in a situation of no movement, of gridlock. We throw up our hands and we wonder if there’s any hope, and if anyone can make any difference, if anyone can change things, if anyone can get things moving again. What I want to say to you is “Yes. Yes. Yes, in the long run there is movement. There is development.” This nation was born at a point of newness. There was a new understanding of human government. There was a new understanding of the human person. There was an appreciation for the necessity of liberty and freedom in which human beings could realize their potential. There was a recognition that the finest form of human government was the government that governed least, that was a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” in that definition that Lincoln gave to this form of government 100 years later in the crisis of the Civil War. Lincoln really redefined the revolution when he said that this nation was “dedicated to the proposition that all people were created equal,” and that the test of the Civil War was a test of whether or not this experiment indeed could come to fruition and realization of that high ideal for which it was initiated in the first place. The twentieth century saw our nation engaged in great global conflict in which our philosophy of government, our conception of freedom, of democratic institutions, of the rule of law, have been severely challenged. World War I, World War II and, following victory in the Second World War, the decades of the Cold War’s ideological struggle in which the world was brought to the brink of disaster – each side keeping its hand off the trigger, because of the realization that in nuclear conflict there can be no winners. Mutually Assured Destruction, © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   aptly named by the acronym MAD, kept the world “safe” during the decades of Cold War standoff. And then 1989 – do you remember the fall of the Berlin Wall – people dancing, singing, weeping, embracing. Do you remember the euphoria? In the summer 1989 issue of The National Interest an essay appeared that created a great deal of discussion. It was written by a State Department planner, Francis Fukayama, who boldly entitled his essay “The End of History.” Fukuyama saw in the reform policies of Gorbachev not just the end of the Cold War or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such – that is, the end-point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. He argued that Karl Marx saw history as having an “end,” meaning its fulfillment in an ideal political system. Marx saw the conflicts and contradictions of all previous societies being resolved in a utopian classless society. According to Fukuyama, Marx borrowed the idea from the German philosopher Hegel who argued that history would culminate at a moment “in which a final rational form of society and state became victorious”. According to the report of Fukayama’s essay in Time (9/4/89), For Hegel, history “ended,” in this sense, with Napoleon’s triumph over the Prussian forces at Jena in 1806. That battle, to Hegel, marked the vindication by arms of the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution. A French-Russian philosopher, Alexander Kojeve, believes Hegel was right because at Jena the “vanguard” of humanity implemented the French Revolution’s goals. The motto of the French Revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” has been seriously challenged in this century but Fukuyama argued the ferment occurring within the Eastern bloc points to the triumph of these ideals. You can imagine that Fukuyama’s contention met with serious criticism at the time. In a series of responses printed in the same issue of The National Interest there were challenges raised to his thesis. One respondent, Gertrude Himmelfarb, pointed to a different reading of Hegel. In another reading of Hegel, however, all of history is a constant – and constantly unfulfilled – attempt to realize and actualize those principles. The dialectic does not consist, as Mr. Fukuyama says, in “a beginning, a middle, and an end,” but in “a thesis, an antithesis, and a synthesis,” in which the synthesis of the preceding stage is the thesis of the present, thus setting in motion an endless dialectical cycle – and thus preserving the drama of history. © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Hegel was an Idealist, not a utopian. It was Marx, having defined history as the history of class struggle and socialism as the abolition of classes, who had to contemplate a final, classless state of history – although even he was enough of a Hegelian to be uncomfortable with that end, avoiding any discussion of it except for a few hilarious sentences in The German Ideology (very early Marx) about the completely fulfilled, de-alienated man who would hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, and “criticize” (philosophize) in the evening. As it happened, history did not come to an end either with the French Revolution or, as Marxists once believed, with the Russian Revolution. A good deal of history transpired between and since those revolutions – not only the humdrum “panorama” of ordinary history (as Hegel called it) but momentous, world-historical events. Even the most ardent Hegelian would be hard put to dismiss communism or nazism as minor set-backs in the relentless march of history; he might even be moved to see in them dimensions of human consciousness, potentialities for evil, which bode ill for the progress of Spirit or Reason. At the very least, he might be inclined to put off the end of history to infinity, making it an Absolute by which to judge the present, a star by which to steer our course, but with no expectation of reaching that final destination. I entirely agree with Mr. Fukuyama’s opening sentence, that “something very fundamental has happened in world history.” My only problem is with the rest of the paper, in which liberal democracy is universalized and eternalized, bringing history to an end. Would that it were so. I myself have been too traumatized by communism and nazism to have any confidence in the eternal realities of history – except the reality of contingency and change, of the imponderable and the unanticipated ªand, as often as not, the undesired and undesirable. The twenty years since 1989 have proved Himmelfarb far closer to reality than Fukuyama, and that not because the values and virtues of western liberal democracy are less than they are heralded to be but rather because even the best political and economic framework and principles can be wrenched and wrecked by human hubris, greed and ruthlessness. Witness the present economic chaos in which we find ourselves, broken government bought and paid for by special interests, a designation pointing to the fact that the common good, the public wellbeing, is not the goal. In the July, 2009, issue of Vanity Fair, there appears an article entitled “Wall Street’s Toxic Message” under which appear the following in bold print: When the current crisis is over, the reputation of American-style capitalism will have taken a beating – not least because of the gap between what Washington practices and what it preaches. Disillusioned developing © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 7   nations may well turn their backs on the free market, warns Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, posing new threats to global stability and U.S. security. Interestingly, Stiglitz refers to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, obviously agreeing with Fukuyama that that was a pivotal moment in our times. The fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, marked the end of Communism as a viable idea. Yes, the problems with Communism had been manifest for decades. But after 1989 it was hard for anyone to say a word in its defense. For a while, it seemed that the defeat of Communism meant the sure victory of capitalism, particularly in its American form. Francis Fukuyama went as far as to proclaim “the end of history,” defining democratic market capitalism as the final stage of social development, and declaring that all humanity was now heading in this direction. In truth, historians will mark the 20 years since 1989 as the short period of American triumphalism. With the collapse of great banks and financial houses, and the ensuing economic turmoil and chaotic attempts at rescue, that period is over. So, too, is the debate over “market fundamentalism,” the notion that unfettered markets, all by themselves, can ensure economic prosperity and growth. Today only the deluded would argue that markets are selfcorrecting or that we can rely on the self-interested behavior of market participants to guarantee that everything works honestly and properly. The consequence of the implosion of free market capitalism and the economic meltdown in the global community may lead developing nations to turn away from market capitalism which he contends is the only system that can bring them prosperity and free them from poverty. He writes, But my concern here is more with the realm of ideas. I worry that, as they see more clearly the flaws in America’s economic and social system, many in the developing world will draw the wrong conclusions. A few countries – and maybe America itself – will learn the right lessons. They will realize that what is required for success is a regime where the roles of market and government are in balance, and where a strong state administers effective regulations. They will realize that the power of special interests must be curbed. But, for many other countries, the consequences will be messier, and profoundly tragic. The former Communist countries generally turned, after the dismal failure of their postwar system, to market capitalism, replacing Karl Marx with Milton Friedman as their god. The new religion has not served them well. Many countries may conclude not simply that unfettered capitalism, American-style, has failed but that the very concept of a market economy has failed, and is indeed unworkable under any circumstances. Old-style Communism won’t be back, but a variety of forms © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 8   of excessive market intervention will return. And these will fail. The poor suffered under market fundamentalism – we had trickle-up economics, not trickle-down economics. But the poor will suffer again under these new regimes, which will not deliver growth. Without growth there cannot be sustainable poverty reduction. There has been no successful economy that has not relied heavily on markets. Poverty feeds disaffection. The inevitable downturns, hard to manage in any case, but especially so by governments brought to power on the basis of rage against American-style capitalism, will lead to more poverty. The consequences for global stability and American security are obvious. Stiglitz sees our present failure as putting the democracy birthed here in a bad light. Faith in democracy is another victim. In the developing world, people look at Washington and see a system of government that allowed Wall Street to write self-serving rules which put at risk the entire global economy – and then, when the day of reckoning came, turned to Wall Street to manage the recovery. They see continued re-distributions of wealth to the top of the pyramid, transparently at the expense of ordinary citizens. They see, in short, a fundamental problem of political accountability in the American system of democracy. After they have seen all this, it is but a short stop to conclude that something is fatally wrong, and inevitably so, with democracy itself. (p. 85) Finally he returns to Fukuyama, pointing to where he was wrong but also where he was right. The American economy will eventually recover, and so, too, up to a point, will our standing abroad. America was for a long time the most admired country in the world, and we are still the richest. Like it or not, our actions are subject to minute examination. Our successes are emulated. But our failures are looked upon with scorn. Which brings me back to Francis Fukuyama. He was wrong to think that the forces of liberal democracy and the market economy would inevitably triumph, and that there could be no turning back. But he was not wrong to believe that democracy and market forces are essential to a just and prosperous world. The economic crisis, created largely by America’s behavior, has done more damage to these fundamental values than any totalitarian regime ever could have. Perhaps it is true that the world is heading toward the end of history, but it is now sailing against the wind, on a course we set ourselves. (p. 85) I wrestle with a subject like this, way beyond my pay scale, which is to say my level of competence, because finally as a follower of Jesus it is my passion to see a movement toward a more compassionate world. We began with the marvelous vision with which this nation was founded. We rightly stand in awe of humane © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page 9   values which came to expression in our founding documents. Every Fourth of July we celebrate the Declaration of our Independence. But history moves on. John Donne wrote “No man is an island entire of itself,” but today we must recognize no nation is an island entire of itself. If anyone doubted the intimate inter-connection of all the peoples of the earth, the present economic disaster should remove all doubt. Pope Benedict XVI issued his third encyclical since assuming the throne of St. Peter. The encyclical dealt with global economic order, urging world leaders to work for the common good. In an article in the New York Times (July 8, 2009), it was reported that he addressed the current situation: VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, criticizing a growing divide between rich and poor and urging the establishment of a “true world political authority” to oversee the economy and work for the “common good.” He criticized the current economic system, “where the pernicious effects of sin are evident,” and urged financiers in particular to “rediscover the genuinely ethical foundation of their activity.” He also called for “greater social responsibility” on the part of business. “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty,” Benedict wrote in his new encyclical, which the Vatican released on Tuesday. More than two years in the making, “Caritas in Veritate,” or “Charity in Truth,” is Benedict’s third encyclical since he became pope in 2005. Filled with terms like “globalization,” “market economy,” “outsourcing,” “labor unions” and “alternative energy,” it is not surprising that the Italian media reported that the Vatican was having difficulty translating the 144-page document into Latin. This is an important call to recognize and face up to the imperative necessity of the global community beginning to act according to the reality into which history has evolved. Many will write off the Pope’s call as just another religious idealist peddling pipe dreams. Such an international authority will be struggled against no more fiercely anywhere than in our own nation. Why yield any element of sovereignty when you are number one – even if crippled and losing ground. But the time is coming when a radical new envisioning of our global community will occur if the human story is to continue. But why should we wait until there is no option because of disaster? Why should we wait for the environment to collapse, endless war, and greedy, ruthless © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page10   operatives to amass fortunes while of the 80% of the world’s population that live in Asia, Latin America and Africa, 1.4 billion subsist on less than $1.25 a day? It is not that no voices have been raised over the centuries, voices of prophets, poets and dreamers. The biblical tradition is replete with calls for justice and compassion. From the Hebrew prophet Micah, for example, He has told you, O Mortal, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, and love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8) And Jesus, the great storyteller, answered a lawyer’s test question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” by asking him, “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?” The lawyer responded with the summary of the Law and the prophets – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus affirmed the answer and said, “Do this, and you will live.” But that didn’t satisfy the lawyer whose motive in asking the question is suspect and he asked further, “And who is my neighbor?” And that question of course led to one of Jesus’ most memorable parables, the story of the good Samaritan, (Luke 10:25-37). A man journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho is ambushed, robbed, beaten and left half dead. A priest saw him and passed by on the other side. A Levite did the same. Then a Samaritan came by, saw the wounded one, had compassion on him, gave him first aid and then brought him to an inn where he took care of him. Leaving the next day, he told the Innkeeper to look after him and upon his return he would cover the cost. Now in response to the lawyer’s question “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of the three was neighbor to the victim?” The answer, of course, was obvious: “The one who showed him kindness.” Jesus replied, “Go and do likewise.” The story gets its punch, of course, because while religious leaders might be expected to show compassion they fail to act. The one who shows mercy is a Samaritan, one despised by the Jews, reflecting an ancient feud. Showing mercy knows no bounds. So it is on planet Earth. A striking image of our real planetary situation was expressed by the famed astronomer, Carl Sagan – no professor of belief in God. © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page11   “We succeeded in taking that picture (from deep space), and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam. The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined selfimportance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” Carl Sagan Can you hear that and not be moved? Is it not compassion we need and would the deep wellspring of compassion that lies within the human breast be tapped if we had such a vision, such a grasp of the reality of our human situation? If only we could imagine…. In case you missed the news, Michael Jackson is dead. I acknowledge some lack in myself but I could never get into him or his music. But I know it has to do with some deficiency; I never got into the Beatles either. In both cases it was I against the universe I guess. Certainly there is musical genius that I have missed. I confess this because a few Christmases past we received a Christmas card with a poem by John Lennon entitled “Imagine” as well as a variation on the theme that transposed the poem from an amazing expression of human imagination to an expression of Christmas hope. The original is: © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page12   Imagine By John Lennon Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today…. Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for No religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace… Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world… You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one. The Christmas card version from our friends Peter and Helen Hart was entitled “Imagine Reversed…” Imagine there’s a heaven It’s easy if you try When love is all around us And beauty fills the sky Imagine all the people Living for today…. Imagine all the countries It isn’t hard to do The rule of law to guide us And religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace… © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page13   Imagine our possessions I wonder if you can As gifts for need and hunger According to God’s plan Imagine all the people Sharing all the world… Our hope is not just dreaming For once was born a Son Who lived so we might follow Him And the world will be as one. Obviously for Christmas, for a Christian, Lennon’s expression is inadequate. It was a telling critique of religion, I must say, suggesting religion is one of the divisive elements in the human world, indeed a source of violence which cannot be denied. But it need not be and the positive potential of religion is picked up nicely in the “Imagine Reversed”. If you look closely at “Imagine Reversed,” the last two lines of all four stanzas are the same with the exception of the fourth stanza where the next to the last line is changed from “I hope some day you’ll join us” to “Who lived so we might follow Him.” Rather than an invitation to join the dreamer the reverse version points to a concrete human example, obviously the one whose birth Christmas celebrates. A not insignificant change from an open invitation to join in a human hope to a human life as model that incarnated the dreamer’s vision. Even so, Lennon’s original is a marvelous portrayal of an alternative world envisioned by a dreamer. Dreamers and poets are critically important to inspire us to imagine, to imagine a better way of being, to imagine a better world, an alternative world reflective of the God of love and compassion – not just for our nation, not for one continent, not for one race but for all humankind. Just imagine, All people living for today Living life in peace Sharing all the world And the world will be as one. I am quite aware that that sounds like fantasy talk – wholly unrealistic in the present world situation. Where would you begin to point out the flash points of present – the Middle East – Iran? Iraq? The Israeli-Palestinian ongoing crises? Afghanistan with escalating military engagement? The straining of relationships with Russia? Honduras? North Korea? The volatility of Pakistan? Spin the globe and peril seems ubiquitous. One might be tempted to throw up one’s hands and say hope of any amelioration of the world’s peril, the struggle for power and © Grand Valley State University �Just Imagine… Richard A. Rhem Page14   preeminence, the exploitation of the weaker by the stronger has always been the story and will be until the End – an end some religious traditions might see as the final intervention of God in Judgment and Redemption. Or might it be an End that is of human making – a nuclear Holocaust or an environmental disaster? And in the meantime conflict, violence, war and human suffering and tragedy. Gathered here as an assembly of good people, the fortunate ones, civil, decent and essentially well-meaning, it must feel like I am overdrawing the threat and painting the picture far too somberly. After all there have been wars and rumors of wars forever. There have been good times and bad times. Isn’t it better to try just to do one’s best and get along as best one can? Is our time really different? Has everything changed? Albert Einstein in the wake of the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan – He whose genius was critical in creating the atomic weapon – said “Everything has changed except our thinking.” And the world Einstein knew has changed dramatically in the meantime. He also said, “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” In The Abolition of Man (1944), C.S. Lewis wrote: Human nature will be the last part of Nature to surrender to Man. The battle will then be won. We shall … be henceforth free to make our species whatever we wish to be. The battle will indeed be won. But who, precisely, will have won? For the power of Man to make himself what he pleases means, as we have seen, the power of some men to make other men what they please. The only hope for a human future as well as a humane future is to imagine an alternative universe in which a global community learns compassion. As Jesus taught us to pray Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. That will be the case when we learn that our neighbor is anyone who crosses our path in need and we allow compassion to flow like a mighty stream. © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Scripture Text Micah 6:8, Luke 10:25-37, Imagine by John Lennon Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges 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-0-20090712 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-07-12 Title A name given to the resource Just Imagine... 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 July 12, 2009 entitled "Just Imagine...", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Micah 6:8, Luke 10:25-37, Imagine by John Lennon. 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 Inclusivism Nonviolence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5ab2f777d564f1e68c498a65235ccfd5.pdf 98f39a3fa54ed9e2cdd0523f84bf4931 PDF Text Text The Grace to Let Go Celebration of the Life of Sally Hammond Psalm 23, Mark 15:34, John 19:28-30, Luke 23:46 Richard A. Rhem Sally’s Garden Grand Haven, Michigan July 25, 2009 Prepared text of sermon Being a pastor to the Hammond family for so many years, it was only natural that I should have been on the e-mail list Tom assembled from the first. The list grew as the shocking news of Sally’s condition spread, but hearing the news from the first, I e-mailed Tom to say I was ready whenever they requested to come to them. A week or so later Tom called. They were ready for a pastoral visit and that afternoon Nancy and I went to them – Tom, Sally and Emily were there. From the first hug at the door I was aware that this was the right time. Sally took me to the big leather chair, sat me down, moved the foot stool aside and sat on it – literally at my knee. It was one of those moments when one senses something very special was going on. You might suspect that would have been a difficult call to make but it wasn’t at all. The five of us spoke candidly, openly, easily of Sally’s situation. We remembered so many great times – Tom and Sally twice accompanied Nancy and me on tours – once to Europe, once a New England Canadian cruise. And, of course, many years, wonderful years of shared moments at Christ Community Church. But there was no awkward avoidance of Sally’s dire physical condition. We spoke of the diagnosis and the prognosis and the decision Sally made to take no measure to deal with the cancer, methods that may have prolonged her life a bit but also robbed her of real life. It is always unwise to say what one would do if one were in that circumstance when, as a matter of fact, one is not in that circumstance. I did, however say to Sally I affirmed her decision and that I hoped were I in that circumstance, I would choose as she did. There was total agreement in that family circle. It was obvious that they were together at peace with the decision Sally made – to live as fully and normally as possible every remaining day she had. And she did! © Grand Valley State University   �The Grace To Let Go Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I know of no finer expression of Sally’s last day than the beautiful description from Tom’s final e-mail. Subject: Sally Update Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:16:54 Hi Dear Friends, Today I am writing to tell you that Sally passed away late last evening, not quite four weeks after discovering the tumor. During that time she dealt with everything with amazing dignity, humor, and love. This past Sunday we had one of the most amazing days I've ever experienced. She told us that she had decided that this was her last day and was very much at peace with it. She joined us on the porch in a rolling chair, weak but ate a lot of food, laughed a lot, reminisced. She was radiant, obviously having made the decision herself. We had very warm, fulfilling goodbyes. Later that night she slipped into a deep sleep, spent Monday in a coma, and passed quietly about midnight. We will always remember Sunday and the way she was. It was a real gift to us. I'm so thankful for Abby, Emily, Susan, and Betsy being here. They have been a real blessing. I'm also so thankful for all of you who have been so concerned; your love and caring have been greatly felt. Attached is the obituary that I wrote, then had the four girls improve. If you can be here on Saturday between 2 and 4, we would love to see you. Thanks again. Tom It was a gift; Sally turned tragedy into triumph. That’s why we are here today to celebrate her life amidst the gardens she loved – to celebrate her life. Strangely enough, not with a heavy cloud of darkness hanging over us, not with weeping but with stories, memories, laughing and crying but in it all a sense of celebration of a life whose presence graced us for so many years. Don’t misunderstand me. This is no denial of deep grief, of sadness, of painful loss. The whole point of my reflections is to say there was no denial here – not at the first news, not in the ensuing month, not at the final good-byes. And there will certainly be grief through which to work for Tom, the girls, the family. But grief laced with remembering the way she was, grief through gratitude at the gift she gave, grief through joy at the remarkable manner of her departure. © Grand Valley State University �The Grace To Let Go Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I’ve entitled my reflections, “The Grace To Let go.” She approached her end with dignity and departed with grace. Quite amazing really! Thinking about these moments I thought of some of Jesus’ words from the cross – My intention is not in any way to make the situation comparable; they are not. It did strike me however, that the words from the cross reflect the human reality of facing and coming to terms with our mortality when it faces us suddenly. For Jesus, the expression “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” That “why” is inevitable in our human situation – the feeling of being alone, abandoned – “My God, Why….?” But then the normal human physical response – “I’m thirsty.” Her last day she ate with the family – was it the last supper, her final communion? But then, inevitably, the awareness of the end comes – For Jesus, “It is finished.” And then finally, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” Tom writes: She had decided that this was her last day and was very much at peace with it. We had very warm, fulfilling good-byes. She slipped into a deep sleep – and passed quietly. It is finished…Father into your hands… I submit to you that Sally has modeled for us all the grace to let go and it is as beautiful as it is amazing. In our visit with Sally and family a couple weeks ago I suggested we stand in a circle holding hands and I offered a prayer. At the conclusion we hugged. She said “I’ve been waiting for that.” I sensed deeply that was the final notch and it brought deep peace. It was one of those rare moments when I knew it was not just I but rather all my person symbolized and embodied for her – It was a beautiful and deeply moving moment. And I knew anew the truth of what was a mantra at Christ Community: All will be well All will be well All manner of things will be well © Grand Valley State University �The Grace To Let Go Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The words of the 11th century Nun, Mystic, Julian of Norwich and to you all, family, friends, community – All will be well. Prayer O God! Somehow that address, that cry to the Sacred Mystery of our lives, of all of life, issues forth from our depths – O God! We come consciously into your Presence, for we come to the limit of our ability to fathom meaning and purpose, life’s sweetness and its vulnerability – indeed the beauty and the terror of creation, life’s wonder and its fragility. We come as a community surrounding Tom, Emily and Puya, Abby and Sally’s family in these moments, offering our love and care and support. We come acknowledging shock and sadness at the loss of this one, so vivacious, so full of fun, of life; our Sally! We can hardly take it in. And then we run into a paradox: How is it that such a great loss of one so young, so vibrant with dreams yet to be fulfilled does not bring with it a sense of tragedy and the blackness of despair? We have been telling Sally stories, we have laughed about shared moments, as we have remembered her mischievousness, her laughter, her humor, her kindness and goodness. Somehow today we cannot feel heavy of spirit, depressed or simply down. A paradox indeed! We do know why that is the case when we take a moment to reflect on the gift she was and the gift she bestowed on her beloved – the gift of living fully to the end with love and grace and dignity. The gift of facing so honestly and courageously her imminent death. Dear God, she was magnificent, a beautiful model of how to die. Such courage, such strength were not recent add-ons to her being but rather the lovely flowering of her nature, indeed, her soul. We celebrate that. We are in awe of our beloved Sally, loving wife, mother, sister, friend. In the quietness of these moments, We remember the way she was Grateful that the luminosity of her being has irradiated our own Grateful for this gift we’ve shared © Grand Valley State University �The Grace To Let Go Richard A. Rhem The human encounter Which has been divine Our Sally, in whose face we’ve seen the face of God. Even as she saw God in the face of Jesus Jesus who taught us to pray saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever. The love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and forever. © Grand Valley State University Page 5   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Memorial Service for Sally Hammond Scripture Text Psalm 23, Mark 15:34, John 19:28-30, Luke 23:46 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges 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-0-20090725 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-07-25 Title A name given to the resource The Grace to Let Go 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 July 25, 2009 entitled "The Grace to Let Go", on the occasion of Memorial Service for Sally Hammond, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Psalm 23, Mark 15:34, John 19:28-30, Luke 23:46. 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 Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bf67a22aeb5639c1a65b13177dc8f20c.pdf 5ad0844f46282b4138011b50c861aa71 PDF Text Text The Promise and Peril of Being Human Psalm 8; Genesis 3:1-7; Revelation 21:1-4; 22-25; 22: 1-2; Joel Garreau, Radical Evolution Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan August 9, 2009 Today is August 9, 2009. Do you know what happened on this day in 1945? Well, I would not have become aware of August 9, 1945, had not our gracious host, Tapas, responded to my email giving him my theme for today – “The Promise and Peril of Being Human.” He wrote, Interesting numerology. You speak on the perils and promise of human potential on August 9 at 11 am and August 9 1945, was Nagasaki Bombing day – mere coincidence, of course… Well, coincidence or not, I replied to Tapas that at least he had provided my introduction and I did check out the Wikipedia piece on the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9 – the first and only use of the atomic bomb bringing horrific devastation and great loss of human life and bringing Japan to surrender. I was sobered as I reviewed those days of terror and death, of devastation and the unleashing of atomic power into the world. Of that event, Einstein said famously, The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. Or, in another citation – The release of atom power has changed everything except our way of thinking…the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. I am grateful that Tapas’ reference to August 9, 1945, put me on this track because it reminded me that the issue of human progress has always been accompanied by promise and peril. The splitting of the atom was obviously in a class by itself beyond any emergent and any evolution to that point, except the dawn of consciousness and the radical evolution on whose threshold we stand today in terms of the Information Revolution, Genetics, Robotics and Nanotechnology likewise far exceeds the consequences of any previous © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 2   breakthrough in human progress. Nonetheless, there is a long history of human progress which has been welcomed and resisted. In 2005 I immersed myself in this subject and gave a lecture entitled “The End of the Human Story.” As you may surmise, I was playing on the ambiguity of the word “End;” it can mean the point of termination – the game ended after midnight – or, it can mean the successful achievement of the purpose of an endeavor – as in, the project achieved its end of creating a new vision. Therein lies the ambiguity of my title: will the explosive expansion of technology lead to humanity’s demise – the end of the story? Or, might technology be the means whereby humanity realizes its divine intention, its purpose in process? Put another way: will technology lead us to the gates of Hell, the final conflagration, or usher us into Edenic bliss, the Garden of Paradise, the City of God? Lest I build too great expectations with such cosmic queries, let me say at the outset that both consequences are possible – coming to our end, or realizing our end, and which possibility will prevail I do not know. No one knows. But, the value of reflection on the theme “Human and Technology” is bringing to awareness what must be the critical issue confronting the human family – not simply what as yet undreamed-of possibilities there are for technological development, but rather, given whatever technological advances that emerge, how will humanity respond in terms of control, utilization and application? Technology is not a neutral instrument; it has and it will radically transform a cultural paradigm. Yet, at this moment in our cosmic journey, human decisionmaking can still determine whether technological development will spell our end or be a means of realizing the full blossoming of the human spirit – which would be simply Divine. It is in coming to a sharpened awareness of the critical nature of the choices that even now confront the human family that the value of our theme lies. As one whose whole life has been given over to contemplating the human before the Face of God, I must admit that I have been shocked into a new awareness of the real situation of our present existence, literally teetering between the end and the End – between extinction and the next stage of human development. Let me begin to address the subject by putting the issue of humanity and technology in an historical context. The tension between human values and technological development has a long history. Without attempting a full account of that history, let me simply point to what for me was new insight and understanding – the beloved Robin Hood of English legendary saga was not simply one who with his band of merry men took from the rich to aid the poor. In his Rebels Against the Future, Kirkpatrick Sale points out that the Robin Hood legends recount the struggle against the early English wool industry: © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 3   It is probable that one of the real figures at the center of the legend was the victim of an early industrial policy of the rising English monarchy to encourage a native wool industry by transforming some of the commonly held central forests into private grazing lands for sheep, and his troubles with the Sheriff of Nottingham no doubt stemmed from a clash between his desire to keep on using the woods for food and fuel, as his father and forefathers had before him, and the royal policy (proclaimed in 1217=18) of cutting them down for pasturage. This conflict between old and new, custom and commerce, was dramatic enough to fix itself in the stories of the locals, take life in several early narrative poems (most effectively in the Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode of 1495), and eventually be resurrected by several early 19th-century Romantic novelists (notably Scott, in Ivanhoe), from where it passes into modern films and fables…. But for all the enduring resonance of this tale, in historical fact it was the royal policy of clear-cutting and wool manufacturing over the forest commons that prevailed. The heartland forests were enclosed and harvested, laid bare for grazing, and within a few centuries nothing much was left of either the great Barsdale or Sherwood forests but a few scattered clusters of conifers and a few stately oaks in tracts deemed unsuitable for development; wool weaving became the key industry of England and woolen cloth for centuries its most important export, an enterprise nurtured and protected by a succession of kings and parliaments down to the 19th century. Robin Hood’s name may have lasted, and a legend about heroic commoners resisting the noble and the powerful may have become burnished by time, but in truth it was not the practice of robbing from the rich, nor the benefaction of the poor, that became the principle means of enterprise in middle England. (p. 2f) Sale recounts the Robin Hood legend of the 13th and 14th centuries to introduce his history of the Luddites who are his “Rebels” whom he uses to address our contemporary crisis created by the present explosive technological advances. It is fitting, and perhaps not accidental, that this triangle of central Britain, seven centuries after it immortalized Robin Hood, was precisely the site of the risings of the Luddites. The Luddites – many of them weavers and combers and dressers of wool, but many of them artisans in the cotton trades that became increasingly important at the end of the 18th century – were, like Robin’s Merry Men, victims of progress, or what was held to be progress. Having for centuries worked out of their cottages and small village shops on machines that, though far from simple, could be managed by a single person, assisted perhaps by children, they suddenly saw new, complex, large-scale machines coming into their settled trades, or threatening to, usually housed in the huge multistory buildings rising in their ancient valleys. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Worse still, they saw their ordered society of craft and custom and community begin to give way to an intruding industrial society and its new technologies and systems, new principles of merchandise and markets, new configurations of countryside and city, beyond their ken or control. And when they rose up against this, for fifteen tempestuous months at the start of the second decade of the 19th century, they did so with more ferocity and intensity than anything Robin Hood ever mustered, and were put down with far more force than anything King John ever commanded. The Luddites took their name from a mythical Ned Ludd – whose origins are still obscure… – but they were conscious throughout that they were traveling on ground trod by an earlier set of courageous troublemakers; one of the earliest Luddite letters was posted from “Robin Hood’s Cave,” another was said to have come from “Ned Ludd’s office, Sherwood Forest,”… ( p. 3) Sale writes of the critical nature of the Luddite rebellion as the Industrial Revolution was transforming English life. The response of the English establishment threatened to betray the very character of the nation, sensing as they did that the whole future of industrialization was at stake. Sale writes, … the various Luddite armies that operated in 1811 and 1812 were so carefully organized and disciplined and so effective in their attacks, causing damage to machines and property that amounted to more than £100,000 that they seemed a strong and highly threatening movement of a kind Britain had not known before – of “a character of daring and ferocity,’ the Annual Register for 1812 said, “unprecedented among the lower classes in this country.” Then, too, they had enough popular support in the manufacturing districts to be able to carry on their secret, illegal activities for months on end without being betrayed, despite official bribes and threats, nighttime arrests, and interrogations, suggesting to certain minds at least that they were only the most visible part of a very widespread insurrectionary – possibly revolutionary – tendency in the land…. Last and perhaps most important, the Luddites were understood to represent not merely a threat to order, as riotous mobs or revolutionary plotters of the past, but, in some way not always articulated, to industrial progress itself. They were rebels of a unique kind, rebels against the future that was being assigned to them by the new political economy then taking hold in Britain, in which it was argued that those who controlled capital were able to do almost anything they wished, encouraged and protected by government and king, without much in the way of laws or ethics or customs to restrain them. The real challenge of the Luddites was not so much the physical one, against the machines and manufacturers, but a moral one, calling into question on grounds of justice and fairness the © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 5   underlying assumptions of this political economy and the legitimacy of the principles of unrestrained profit and competition and innovation at its heart. Which is why the architects and beneficiaries of the new industrialism knew that it was imperative to subdue that challenge, to try to deny and expunge its premises of ancient rights and traditional mores, if the labor force were to be made sufficiently malleable, and the new terms of employment sufficiently fixed, to allow what we now call the Industrial Revolution to triumph unimpeded. (p. 4f) The impact and implications of the Industrial Revolution were creating serious questions and deep foreboding in the minds and hearts of many of the thoughtful and reflective English folk of that time. Mary Wollstonecroft Godwin (living with but as yet not married to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley), Shelley, his friend Lord Byron and Byron’s physician, Dr. John Polidori, spent the summer of 1816 in Switzerland, a summer of perpetual rain. Creating their own entertainment, they decided to see who could write the most frightening ghost story. Mary Shelley was 18 when she began to write her story and 21 when the book was published under the title Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (18118). The numerous film versions of the story are in the horror film genre and mask Shelley’s real intention in the novel. The name Frankenstein has been switched to the Monster in the dramatic versions of stage and film whereas, in the novel, Victor Frankenstein is the student experimenter fascinated with the power of electricity in lightning. He determines to pursue the secret of life. The reference in the title to Prometheus reveals what was on Shelley’s mind as she wrote – a modern Prometheus, not thief of fire, but attempting to become the Creator. Patricia A. Neal, in an essay entitled “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Myth for Modern Man,” stresses the serious intention of the author about concerns which continue very much with us as we wrestle with the tension between human values and the explosive technological advances we are witnessing. Neal writes, The power of the myth of an unattended scientific creation, left to destroy innocent lives, assumes importance in the final decade of the twentieth century. The book questions the morality of Frankenstein’s actions. Did he have a right to create and abandon the creature? In her novel, Mary Shelley anticipated the problem of a destructive force created by man, a force with no genuine means of control. Kirkpatrick Sale likewise recognizes Shelley’s serious purpose in the writing of her myth – …Mary Shelley’s prescient tale of techno-madness, Frankenstein, published in 1818, was so vivid a message of the dangers of mechanization and the problems of scientific invention – “You are my creator,” the © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 6   monster tells the scientist at the end, “but I am your master” – that it has survived to today, unforgettable…. Thus the recognition of the potential and peril of scientific knowledge and technological development has a long history, but the pace and peril of that development is increasing in our day, not gradually, but exponentially, creating, according to Kirkpatrick Sale, more passion and urgency than at any time in the past two centuries. This is the subject of a fascinating book by Joel Garreau, a journalist with The Washington Post, entitled Radical Evolution, the sub-title being “The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – and What It Means To Be Human.” A reviewer says of the author “…he’s neither a technology booster nor a Luddite. The questions his moral quandaries raise are among the deepest questions we know how to ask: What kind of creatures are we – the apelike animals from which we evolved, or the angels we imagine we can become?” Author Kevin Kelly writes, It isn’t often an author gets to herald the biggest news in the last 10,000 years. But you’ll get the full, uncensored, mind-blowing report here in this entertaining and surprisingly deep book. Meet soldiers who don’t sleep, animals controlled with joy sticks, computers controlled by merely thinking, the blind driving cars, and parents designing their kids – and that is just what is happening right now. Veteran scout Joel Garreau prepares ordinary readers for the ultimate question of this century: Who do you think we should be? He makes it clear that as of today, human nature is now under the control of humans, and we are doing something about it – but we aren’t aware of it. To guide you through this boggle Garreau offers astonishments, conundrums, and sanity. I cite Kelly because he points to what most of us, the uninitiated, might write off as far-out science fiction but is present day reality in the advanced laboratories of our most elite research universities and agencies. Garreau declares we are at an inflection point in history. The dictionary defines inflection as 1) “The act of turning from a direct line, or the condition of being so turned,” 2) “A turn, bend, or curve,”…5) “A change of a curve or arc from convex to concave or the reverse.” This is how Garreau describes it: We are at an inflection point in history. For all previous millennia, our technologies have been aimed outward, to control our environment. Starting with fire and clothes, we looked for ways to ward off the elements. With the development of agriculture we controlled our food supply. In cities we sought safety. Telephones and airplanes collapsed distance. Antibiotics kept death-dealing microbes at bay. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Now, however, we have started a wholesale process of aiming our technologies inward. Now our technologies have started to merge with our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities, our progeny and perhaps our souls. Serious people have embarked on changing humans so much that they call it a new kind of engineered evolution – one that we direct for ourselves. “The next frontier,” says Gregory Stock, director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at the UCLA School of Medicine, “is our own selves.” The people you will meet in Radical Evolution are testing these fundamental hypotheses: We are riding a curve of exponential change. This change is unprecedented in human history. It is transforming no less than human nature. This isn’t fiction. You can see the outlines of this reality in the headlines now. You’re going to see a lot more of it in just the next few years – certainly within your prospective lifetime. We have been attempting to transcend the limits of human nature for a very long time. We’ve tried Socratic reasoning and Buddhist enlightenment and Christian sanctification and Cartesian logic and the New Soviet Man. Our successes have ranged from mixed to limited, at best. Nonetheless, we are pressing forward, attempting once again to improve not just our world but our very selves. Who knows? Maybe this time we’ll get it right. (p. 6) This isn’t fiction; it is that which I want to stress. Garreau is not into sensationalism; he is not writing to scare, nor is he simply wanting to sell books. He is a serious writer writing about the most profound questions facing the human community. Neither is this a book about technology per se. It would not be on my reading list if it were. I am technologically challenged but I do sport a titanium hip, I use a cell phone sparingly and I am able to utilize about five per cent of the capacity of my computer to work the wonders of cyberspace. I mention this because I don’t want you to think you are in for a lecture on the intricacies of the latest technological developments. What I do hope to do is make you aware that technology has advanced to the point where most people now living will be faced with real existential questions about how they will live their lives and maybe not as much their lives but the lives of their children and grandchildren. Garreau opens this up with a simple question parents might ask their son or daughter returning from their university – “What are your classmates like, honey?” The answer reveals some of the ways humans will be able to be enhanced given the technology now available or in process of being perfected: How does she explain what the enhanced kids are like? She wonders. She knows her dear old parents have read in their newsmagazines about some © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 8   of what’s available. But actually dealing with some of her new classmates is decidedly strange. •They have amazing thinking abilities. They’re not only faster and more creative than anybody she’s ever met, but faster and more creative than anybody she’s ever imagined. •They have photographic memories and total recall. They can devour books in minutes. •They’re beautiful, physically. Although they don’t put much of a premium on exercise, their bodies are remarkably ripped. •They talk casually about living a very long time, perhaps being immortal. They’re always discussing their “next lives.” One fellow mentions how, after he makes his pile as a lawyer, he plans to be a glassblower, after which he wants to become a nanosurgeon. •One of her new friends fell while jogging, opening up a nasty gash on her knee. Your daughter freaked, ready to rush her to the hospital. But her friend just stared at the gaping wound, focusing her mind on it. Within minutes, it simply stopped bleeding. •This same friend has been vaccinated against pain. She never feels acute pain for long. These new friends are always connected to each other, sharing their thoughts no matter how far apart, with no apparent gear. They call it “silent messaging.” It almost seems like telepathy. They have this odd habit of cocking their head in a certain way whenever they want to access information they don’t yet have in their own skulls – as if waiting for a delivery to arrive wirelessly. Which it does. For a week or more at a time, they don’t sleep. They joke about getting rid of the beds in their cramped dorm rooms, since they use them so rarely. Her new friends are polite when she can’t keep up with their conversations, as if she were handicapped. They can’t help but condescend to her, however, when she protests that embedded technology is not natural for humans. That’s what they call her – “Natural.” In fact, that’s what they call all those who could be like them but choose not to, the way vegetarians choose to abstain from meat. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page 9   They call themselves “Enhanced.” And those who have neither the education nor the money to even consider keeping up with enhancement technology? These they dismiss as simply “The Rest.” The poor dears – they just keep falling farther and farther behind. Everyone in your daughter’s law school takes it as a matter of course that the law they are studying is changing to match the new realities. The law will be upgraded. The Enhanced believe, just as they have new physical and mental upgrades installed every time they go home. The technology is moving that fast. In fact, the paper your daughter is working on over the holiday concerns whether a Natural can really enter into an informed-consent relationship with an Enhanced – even for something like a date. How would a Natural understand what makes an Enhanced tick if she doesn’t understand how he is augmented? The law is based on the Enlightenment principle that we hold a human nature in common. Increasingly, the question is whether this still exists. (p. 7f) Garreau doesn’t just throw out portraits of the “Enhanced,” as he calls them, to shock, nor are these preposterous constructions of his imagination. He references all these seemingly outlandish capacities and characteristics to actual scientific work in progress. The most ambitious work on the most “far out” ventures is carried out under the auspices of the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA – one of the world’s foremost drivers of human enhancement. Not surprisingly, it is national defense (or is it imperial offense) that is the driving force of this enterprise. DARPA doesn’t do the actual work but commissions leading research universities to do the research and experimentation – 90% of its budget of billions of dollars is spread around to schools like Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon. If it determines there is a need for companies to exist, it sees that they are funded in order to be founded – companies such as Sun MicroSystems, Silicon Graphics, Cisco Systems. NASA was spun off from DARPA. The list of subsidized companies today is in the information industries because that is where the pay-off has been in the last few decades. In the eighties the push was for biologically inspired robots, since the nineties the focus has increasingly been on human biology through the Defense Sciences Office. I cite a paragraph simply to give you a sense of the radical potential of what is in process: Blinded rats are being made to see by Harry Whelan, a professor of neurology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. In a battlefield, a laser powerful enough to burn is a very lethal thing if it is aimed at pilots’ eyes. Using light in the near-infrared spectrum, however, in a process called © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page10   photo-biomodulation, wound healing is accelerated. Vision in rats is being largely restored in anywhere from 5 to 24 hours – not yet quick enough to help pilots, but this is a work in progress. The research is sufficiently advanced that it is about to be tried on monkeys. The hope is that it will also mend wounds to skin, bone, neurons, cartilage, ligaments and tendons within four days. Whelan is also exploring what the process might do for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumors, as well as tissue and organ regeneration. If it works, he will have created something akin to the “physiostimulator” of the original Star Trek, the curative device Bones waves over injuries to heal them. The Navy SEALs are deeply interested in that. Henry is also directing a gaggle of researchers who have discovered that the natural chemical cascades in the body that stop bleeding can be triggered by signals from the brain. The implication of this is that you might be able to train people to stop hemorrhaging within minutes, simply by concentrating their mind on their wound. (p.27) For one not accustomed to the growing edge of the scientific-technological revolution, such possibilities are mind-boggling. But once again, this is not fantasy but hard science. Garreau has had his own “aha” moments when he suddenly awakened to the incredible dimensions of that about which he writes. Such a moment came as I realized that this story was not about computers. This cultural revolution in which we are immersed is no more a tale of bits and bytes than the story of Galileo is about paired lenses. In the Renaissance, the big deal was not telescopes. It was about realizing that the Earth is a minor planet revolving around an unexceptional star in an unfashionable part of the universe. Today, the story is no less attitudeadjusting. It is about the defining cultural, social and political issue of our age. It is about human transformation. The inflection point at which we have arrived is one in which we are increasingly seizing the keys to all creation, as astounding as that might seem. It’s about what parents will do when offered ways to increase their child’s SAT score by 200 points. It’s about what athletes will do when encouraged by big-buck leagues to put together medical pit crews. What fat people will do when offered a gadget that will monitor and alter their metabolisms. What the aging will do when offered memory enhancers. What fading baby boomers will do when it becomes obvious that Viagra and Botox are just the beginning of the sex-appeal industry. Imagine that technology allows us to transcend seemingly impossible physical and mental barriers, not only for ourselves but, exponentially, for our children. What happens as we muck around with the most fundamental aspects of our identity? What if the only thing that is truly inevitable is taxes? This is © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page11   the transcendence of human nature we’re talking about here. What wisdom does transhuman power demand? (p. 11) “Moore’s Law” is named after Gordon E Moore who was one of the founders of Intel whose computer chip ushered in a new age. In 1965 he predicted that the complexity of microchips would double every year for the next ten years. This came to be called “Moore’s Law”– “The power of information technology will double every 18 months, for as far as the eye can see.” And it has proven to be the case. This doubling of the power of information technology has moved the curve of development in a straight line upward bringing us to the inflection point in human history we are experiencing and, Garreau writes, “The Curve implies one of the all-time changes in the rules. Those who study it call it “The Singularity.” ( p. 67) Garreau explains The Singularity concept thus: Vinge (rhymes with stingy, which he distinctly is not) in 1993 introduced the idea of The Singularity to describe huge but unpredictable social change driven by The Curve. In a seminal academic paper delivered to a NASA colloquium he wrote, “I argue in this paper that we are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on Earth.” He’s anticipating the possibility of greater-than-human intelligence. He’s talking about some form of transcendence. As a metaphor for mind-boggling social change, The Singularity has been borrowed from math and physics. In those realms, singularities are the points where everything stops making sense. In math it is a point where you are dividing through by zero, for example. The result is so whacked out as to be meaningless. Physics has its black holes – points in space so dense that even light cannot escape their horrible gravity. If you were to approach one in a spaceship, you would find that even the laws of physics no longer seemed to function. That’s what a Singularity is like. “At this singularity,” writes Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time, “the laws of science and our ability to predict the future would break down.” Another borrowed metaphor is “the event horizon,” the point of no return as you approach a black hole. It is the place beyond which you cannot escape. It is also the point beyond which you cannot see. Some people think we are approaching such a Singularity – a point where our everyday world stops making sense. They think that’s what happens when The Curve goes almost straight up. The sheer magnitude of each doubling becomes unfathomable. ª (p. 71f) A helpful technique of Garreau is his condensing in a paragraph the major subjects he handles as he seeks to portray the present era in which we find © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page12   ourselves – the concepts of The Curve, The Singularity and the three possible futures that lie before us as a human global community. He gives us scenarios. He begins this method with a description of a scenario. What are Scenarios? Scenarios are rigorous, logical, but imaginative stories about what the future might be like, designed to help people plan. Scenarios are not predictions. They are tools for preparation. Recall how pilots just returning from combat – no matter how complex the conditions they encountered – frequently say, “It wasn’t as bad as the simulator.” That is the value of scenarios. Simulators do not predict the future; they allow those who use them to carefully and calmly anticipate and rehearse their response to almost any sudden eventuality. Think of them as idea maps. Scenarios have rules: they must conform to all known facts; identify “predetermineds” – future events so locked-in by those of the past that they can usefully be viewed as inevitable; identify “critical uncertainties” – possibilities that logically might occur in the future but which are both highly uncertain and highly important; identify “wild cards” – possible but highly improbably eventualities that would have great impact should they occur; reveal “embedded assumptions” – unprovable and often unexamined foundations on which our thinking about the future rests; and, identify in advance certain “early warnings” that serve as an alert that a particular scenario is coming to pass. ( p. 78f) With this description of a Scenario, Garreau describes what he has just discussed – The Curve and The Singularity. Subsequently he will put in capsule form what is his central purpose – describing three possible scenarios of the future given the present state of our science and technology: A Scenario of Heaven, of Hell and of what he calls Prevail. Reviewing his earlier discussion, he summarizes both The Curve and The Singularity. The Curve Scenario In this scenario, information technology continues to explode at a rate comparable to that from 1959 through the early 21st century. These unprecedented rapid doublings of information power and dramatically reduced costs continue to spawn new transformative technologies, such as genetics, robotics and nanotechnology. These in turn also proceed to grow at an unprecedented rate, merging and intertwining to produce novel opportunities and challenges. Within the current human generation, these events transform society and ultimately test the meaning of human nature itself. Predetermined elements: There are Curves of exponential change. Many of these describe the realities of technology. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page13   These Curves especially describe the increase in capabilities of information technology. The Curves of information technology increasingly enable new Curves of exponential change to emerge in other fields, especially genetics, robotics and nanotechnology. All of these Curves of exponential change have major impacts on society, culture and values. Critical uncertainties: Are the Curves of exponential change smoothly accelerating, or will they display unexpected slowdowns, stops or reversals? Are these Curves of exponential change under the control of society’s culture and values, or are they impervious to human intervention? ( p. 80f) The Singularity Scenario (Builds on The Curve Scenario) In this scenario, The Curve of exponentially increasing technological change is unstoppable because new discoveries confer great advantage on those who adopt them – economically, militarily and even artistically. Either intentionally or accidentally, this leads, before 2030, to the creation of greater-than-human intelligence. This greater-than-human intelligence in turn proceeds to replicate and improve itself at such a rate as to exceed comprehension. This produces an inflection point in history called The Singularity, comparable to that in which humans rose from the lower animals. (Alternatively, The Singularity is triggered simply by the rate of change accelerating so greatly as to be beyond understanding, with or without the creation of greater-than-human intelligence.) The impact on everyday life is profound, as if we are being swept up by an avalanche. Succeeding scenarios in this book do not depend on The Singularity coming about. It would, however, dramatically influence the speed and scope of their outcome. Predetermined elements: There are Curves of exponential technological change. These Curves of exponential change especially describe information technology. These Curves of information technology increasingly enable new Curves of exponential change in other fields, especially genetics, robotics and nanotechnology. All of these Curves of exponential change have major social, cultural and value impacts. Critical uncertainties: Are The Curves of exponential change smoothly accelerating, or will they display unexpected slowdowns, stops or reversals? © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page14   Are these Curves of exponential change under the control of society’s culture and values, or are they impervious to human intervention? Will software improve at a rate as great as hardware, or will human ingenuity be stymied by the sheer size, complexity and bugginess of the software required? If these Curves are predetermined, must they result in the creation of infinite change? If these Curves are predetermined, must they result in greater-thanhuman intelligence? If infinite change or greater-than-human intelligence is inevitable, will this happen soon – that is, before 2030? Embedded assumption: The only event that can alter this path is a cataclysm that will ruin civilization, such as nuclear war. (p. 82f) With the above framework for confronting the present moment in human history, Garreau moves to his purpose in writing – setting forth three possible Scenarios – as noted above: At least three alternative futures flow from this accelerated change, according to knowledgeable people who have thought about all this, as you will see in ensuing chapters. The first scenario is one in which, in the next two generations, humanity is rapidly replaced by something far more grand than its motley self. Call that The Heaven Scenario. The second is the one in which in the next 25 years or so, humanity meets a catastrophic end. Call it The Hell Scenario. You will find chapters on each, because both scenarios are plausible, and either would lead to the end of human history as we know it, and soon. The third scenario is more complex. It is the one we might call The Prevail Scenario. In this scenario, the future is not predetermined. It is full of hiccups and reverses and loops, all of which are the product of human beings coming to grips with their own destinies. In this world, our values can and do shape our future. We do have choices; we are not at the mercy of large forces. We can prevail. The Heaven Scenario – The Vision of Ray Kurzweil Ray Kurzweil may be one of the greatest creative geniuses to have ever lived. His imagination seems never to cease and he has the brilliance to actualize that of which he dreams. Soon after college he developed three technologies – the first practical flatbed scanner which resulted in a multibillion-dollar industry. He invented the character recognition device that could read any typeface and he invented the first full text-to-speech synthesizer which together brought The Kurzweil Reading Machine to life. Kurzweil has created nine technology companies that continue to be leaders in their fields. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page15   Kurzweil has become famous however because of his writing. The 1989 The Age Of Intelligent Machines predicted the World Wide Web, the chess championship by a computer and the dominance of intelligent weapons in warfare – all pretty far-fetched at the time. In 1999 he published The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence in which he predicted, because of The Curve, many intelligences will roam the earth that are not traditional humans. His 2005 work, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, goes further, laying out the case for the imminent and cataclysmic upheaval in human affairs associated with The Singularity: But even that isn’t the audacious part. What makes Kurzweil an outrage to some and an inspiration to others is that he is relentlessly and fiercely optimistic about these futures. He uses charts and graphs to systematically portray a near future that to some seems indistinguishable from the Christian version of paradise. On top of everything else, he is convinced that medicine is moving sufficiently fast that any person who can stay healthy for the next 20 years may so benefit from the explosion in biological technology as to be immortal. He lays out an extensive scientific, nonreligious, non-New Age case for personally planning to live for a thousand years. When challenged, he doesn’t retreat from his logic at all. Once, to rattle his cage, I paraphrased the author Arthur C. Clarke’s renowned line, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I asked him, So, Ray, what are you saying? That any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from angels? He did not back off an inch. “Depends on what you mean by angels,” he replied. I call his scenario Heaven. (p. 90f) Kurzweil was born of Viennese Jews who fled the Nazi Holocaust coming to the United States where he was born. He still belongs to a Reform temple but more as a cultural identification. His parents, wishing to avoid the provincialism of narrow religions, joined a Unitarian church which introduced Ray to a broad spectrum of religious understanding through which he came to understand the different religious stories as speaking the same truth. Today his is a “Buddhist’s view of God – as the sort of life force, the force of creativity, as opposed to a specific cranky personality that makes deals with humanity and gets mad and exacts vengeance.” This worship of a life force fuels his optimism about the coming transcendence of human nature. “What we see in evolution is increasingly accelerating intelligence, beauty. We find evolving organisms, like humans, that are capable of higher emotions like love. I mean, if you go to the point where there were just reptiles, there was no love. They don’t have much emotional intelligence. They don’t have art, music. So part of © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page16   the evolutionary process – and this has continued with our technological growth of human cultural and technological history – is an increase of those higher emotional, intelligent functions. We see exponentially greater love. “Even 200 years ago, 98 or 99 percent of human beings lived lives of utter desperation. Extreme poverty. Extreme labor. Spending all their time to prepare the evening meal. Extremely disaster-prone. No social safety nets. Now at least an increasing portion of human civilization is free of that level of desperation. So our ability to appreciate arts and music and to have stable relationships is increasing. That was relatively difficult to do even 200 years ago, let alone thousands of years ago.” ( p. 93) Garreau summarizes the core of Kurzweil’s thinking thus: The core element of Kurzweil’s thinking is that The Curve of exponentially increasing technology is rising smoothly, as if on rails. It is in command, in his view, and unstoppable. Everything flows from that. He sees The Curve as a force of nature. He sees it as an extension of evolution. He does not particularly see The Curve as something humans chose to create. Like evolution, it is simply a pattern of life to be recognized, the outcome of billions of small actions. He calls it “The Law of Accelerating Returns.” In his view, nothing any one country or collection of countries can do will deflect it or even slow it down. Forget oil shocks or climate change. The only possible limit he sees is a complete and catastrophic collapse of civilization or the extinction of the human species, worldwide, and he only inserts that as something of a rhetorical footnote. “Exponential progress, in recent times, has marched right through” disasters such as the Depression and World War II, he observes. “It really is an evolutionary process. Biological evolution is full of unpredictable events like visitors from outer space in the form of meteors and asteroids. But nonetheless, out of that chaos comes a very smooth curve. Now the progress is so rapid that The Curves are on a very fast track. But they still emerge from an evolutionary process that is full of disruption. I mean, a lot of people ask me, “Well, now with 9/11 things must be different? Or with the high-tech recession and the meltdown of communications and Internet stocks, surely that has disrupted these curves?” Well, no they haven’t, Kurzweil says. ( p. 94) It is difficult to dispute Kurzweil’s claim that the Curve is simply the ongoing march of the cosmic evolutionary process into which we humans have come to participate and, to some extent, direct. A brief historical review is fascinating as Garreau sets it out. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page17   The essence of The Heaven Scenario is stealing fire from the gods, breathing life into inert matter and gaining immortality. Our efforts to become something more than human have a long and distinguished genealogy. Tracing the history of those efforts illuminates human nature. In every civilization, in every era, we have given the gods no peace. Efforts to transcend our origins begin in the most primitive of times. Sorcerers would create a likeness of a living thing and, with the rituals of magic, seek to animate it. In our earliest epic, the Sumerian tale of Gilgamesh, the climax is the king seeking, finding and losing the secret of immortality. Barely three pages into Genesis, the serpent is telling Eve that she doesn’t have to worry about losing immortality by tasting of the fruit of knowledge. No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be open and you will be like gods.” He says. (Not coincidentally, one of the biggest attractions of Christianity, even as an upstart religion, was its promise of eternal life.) Ancient Greece was full of heroes harassing the deities. Prometheus not only created humans, teaching them many of their useful skills, but he filched fire for them. Daedalus confounded King Minos by crafting wings of wax and feathers to flee Crete. His son Icarus, of course, flew too close to the sun, giving us one of our earliest warnings against taking presumptuous pride in our technologies. But remember, Daedalus did succeed – his mythic wings worked, and ancient Greece gave us the tools of logic, skepticism and natural philosophy that became the underpinnings of science. The market for harvest and fertility goddesses has never been the same. The cultural humanism of the Renaissance pushed ancient pieties aside. Make something of yourself! was its message to mankind. Human nature was not predetermined by anybody’s secondhand image and likeness in this view. We could shape ourselves to make the world better. Pico della Mirandola’s 1486 Oration on the Dignity of Man, the manifesto of the Italian Renaissance, eloquently centers all attention on human capabilities. In it, says God to Adam: “We give you no fixed place to live, no form that is peculiar to you, nor any function that is yours alone. According to your desires and judgment, you will have and possess whatever place to live, whatever form, and whatever functions you yourself choose.” Indeed, in 1580, the kabbalistic Jews of Prague imagined creating a Golem – an artificial man made from clay – who would protect them from persecution. Galileo, as he laid the foundations of modern science, believed that for peering directly into the mind of God, there was nothing like a telescope. It was more profitable to study the deity’s handiwork than it was to study scripture. “Philosophy,” he wrote, “is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze.” © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page18   The Age of Enlightenment elevated scientists over priests. The notion was that the logically deduced laws that governed human behavior were an even purer expression of God’s law than that which could be gathered from scripture. Since God’s law will always work to good ends, the same must be true of the natural laws governing our individual lives, this hypothesis concluded. Francis Bacon was among the first to see critical reasoning as a means of finding the destiny and nature of man. “The formation of ideas and axioms by true induction is no doubt the proper remedy to be applied for the keeping off and clearing away of idols,” Bacon wrote in Novum Organum in 1620. He saw it as a new grounding for morality and, indeed, the perfection of society. The idea of a rationally discovered natural law to achieve a heaven on earth would fuel both the American and French revolutions…. In 1780, Benjamin Franklin wrote to the chemist, biologist and minister Joseph Priestley, “The rapid progress true science now makes, occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born too soon. It is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter. We may, perhaps, deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity, for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its labor and double its produce; all disease may by sure means be prevented or cured (not excepting even that of old age), and our lives lengthened at pleasure….. (p. 106f) Turning from Kurzweil, Garreau points to a document of 415 pages entitled Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance. The document is the joint publication of the National Science Foundation and The United States Department of Commerce and affirms “It is time to rekindle the spirit of the Renaissance” to achieve “a golden age that will be a turning point for human productivity and quality of life. ( p. 112) The report concludes, “The twenty-first century could end in world peace, universal prosperity, and evolution to a higher level of compassion and accomplishment.” (p. 114) Garreau points out that the leading scholars of this aspect of The Heaven Scenario point to the future of human genetics. He cites Gregory Stock, director of the Program on Medicine, Technology, and Society at The School of Medicine at UCLA: Stock’s version of The Heaven Scenario departs from Kurzweil’s He doesn’t think humans will transcend because of computers. He things humans will transcend because of genetic engineering. Such biological remodeling is “a plausible way for people to overcome their bodily frailties, but a larger game is afoot,” he says. It is “biology’s bid to keep pace with the rapid evolution of computer technology.” © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page19   “No one really has the guts to say it, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn’t we?” he approvingly quotes James Watson, co-winner of the Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA, as saying. The titles of several of Stock’s books display his position. One is called Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future. An earlier one is called Metaman: The Merging of Humans and Machines into a Global Superorganism. “To not be human in the sense we use the term now” is the fate of our descendants, Stock says. We will soon see humans as physically and intellectually divergent as “poodles and Great Danes.” But the passing of people like us is hardly a tragedy, he believes. “Unlike the saber-toothed tiger and other large mammals that left no descendants when our ancestors drove them to extinction, Homo sapiens would spawn its own successors by fast-forwarding its evolution.” ( p. 115) The acronym GRIN stands for four interrelated technologies that together are in process of modifying human nature – Genetics, Robotics, Information and Nano processes. Beyond what has been discussed about Information and Genetics, amazing possibilities are being realized in nanotechnology and robotics but to discuss that here in a meaningful way is beyond both this writer’s capacity and purpose. Rather let me bring this discussion of The Heaven Scenario to conclusion. Garreau concludes The Heaven Scenario by returning to Kurzweil. Do you believe in a God you plan on meeting when you die? I ask. “I’m not planning to die,” Kurzweil responds. “I expect to use the power of ideas. I am a survivor as an entrepreneur and a human being. It’s my plan to be involved in this next phase of humanity where we get past some of the frailties of these Version 1.0 bodies we have. The way to ‘meet our maker,’ so to speak, is, in fact, by staying alive. We will be part of this very rapid explosion of intelligence, and beauty, and a very rapid acceleration of this evolutionary process. And that, to me, is what God is. Evolution, I think, is a spiritual process because it moves closer to what we have considered God. It moves closer to infinity.” I am nonplussed by this answer. He is not talking about us someday meeting God. He is talking about us becoming God. Aware of how this sounds, he rephrases a little. “I don’t think we actually ever become God. But we do become more God-like,” he clarifies. He then barrels right back to a grand view of The Heaven Scenario. “I see it, ultimately, as an awakening of the whole universe. I think the whole universe right now is basically made up of dumb matter and energy and I think it will wake up. But if it becomes transformed into this sublimely intelligent matter and energy, I hope to be a part of that.” He is talking about participating in the creation of Heaven. (p. 128f) © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page20   That is radical evolution indeed; Garreau has titled his account accurately and his portrayal of the present state and future potential of the exploding and intertwining scientific-technological enterprise backs up the claim that we are on the cusp of radical evolution. Not surprisingly, not everyone agrees that the scenario in process is one of “Heaven.” Equally brilliant and responsible leaders in the fields of science and technology suggest with alarm that we are on the threshold of Hell. The most articulate spokesperson for such a claim is Bill Joy. The Hell Scenario – The Joyless Fears of Bill Joy Though Joy sloughs it off, he has been called “The Edison of the Internet”. Garreau affirms the comparison. Yet the comparison is not all wrong. Joy’s had a hand in some of the most important aspects of the Net. In 1978, while still a grad student, Joy became the principal programmer for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project inventing the Berkeley Systems Distribution (BSD), the first operating system linking computers over this newfangled thing that would come to be called the Internet. (“It was fun,” he says, predictably enough.) In the early 21st century, the BSD architecture was still the main rival to Microsoft’s server system, being the basis of Apple’s OS X operating system and Sun’s machines, and an underpinning of Linux. In 1982, Joy married that system to a cheap but powerful computer called the S.U.N. workstation, after the Stanford University Network. This is how he wound up as chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, until he resigned the post in 2003…. Joy enjoys a reputation in Silicon Valley as thoughtful and level-headed. “Nobody is more phlegmatic than Bill,” says Stewart Brand, the Internet pioneer. “He is the adult in the room.” That’s why it came as such a shock in March 2000 when this godfather of the Information Age predicted “something like extinction” of the human race within the next generation. Most extraordinarily, he blamed it on the accelerating pace of technological change he had helped create. He intended his warning to be reminiscent of Albert Einstein’s famous 1939 letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt alerting him to the possibility of the atomic bomb. (p. 137f) In the journal Wired, April, 2000, Bill Joy wrote a powerful essay in which he expressed his shock at the rapid advance of the technology in which he himself was engaged and the potential for bringing the human story to its end. The essay is entitled “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” and a bold print subtitle gives the essence of the piece – Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page21   Bill Joy relates the moment that his unease with the whole current direction in which new technologies are being created arose. At a telecom conference, he listened to a Berkeley philosopher, John Searle, discuss with the famous inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil, the acceleration toward the time we were going to become robots or fuse with robots or something like that. John Searle said it couldn’t happen because the robots couldn’t be conscious, but Kurzweil said such a phenomenon was a near-term possibility. Joy writes, I was taken aback, especially given Ray’s proven ability to imagine and create the future. I already knew that new technologies like genetic engineering and nanotechnology were giving us the power to remake the world, but a realistic and imminent scenario for intelligent robots surprised me. Kurzweil gave Joy a preprint of his then forthcoming book, The Age of Spiritual Machines in which he described the utopia he foresaw – One in which humans gained near immortality by becoming one with robotic technology.. Joy was sobered and his unease intensified; he felt certain the dangers were being underestimated, failing to understand the potential of a tragic outcome. He found himself most troubled by a passage detailing a dystopian scenario – that is a scenario of a state or situation in which conditions and the quality of life are terrible. This is the disturbing passage which Joy introduces with the subheading, The New Luddite Challenge First let us postulate that the computer scientists succeed in developing intelligent machines that can do all things better than human beings can do them. In that case, presumably, all work will be done by vast, organized systems of machines and no human effort will be necessary. Either of two cases might occur. The machines might be permitted to make all of their own decisions without human oversight, or else human control over the machines might be retained. If the machines are permitted to make all their own decisions, we can’t make any conjectures as to the results, because it is impossible to guess how such machines might behave. We only point out that the fate of the human race would be at the mercy of the machines. It might be argued that the human race would never be foolish enough to hand over all the power to the machines. But, we are suggesting neither that the human race would voluntarily turn power over to the machines nor that the machines would willfully seize power. What we do suggest is that the human race might easily permit itself to drift into a position of such dependence on the machines that it would have no practical choice but to accept all of the machines’ decisions. As society and the problems that face it become more and more complex and machines become more and more intelligent, people will let machines make more of their decisions © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page22   for them, simply because machine-made decisions will bring better results than man-made ones. Eventually a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage the machines will be in effective control. People won’t be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide. On the other hand, it is possible that human control over the machines may be retained. In that case, the average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite – just as it is today, but with two differences. Due to improved techniques, the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary, the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite are ruthless, they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane, they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite. Or, if the elite consist of softhearted liberals, they may decide to play the role of good shepherds to the rest of the human race. They will see to it that everyone’s physical needs are satisfied, that all children are raised under psychologically hygienic conditions, that everyone has a wholesome hobby to keep him busy, and that anyone who may become dissatisfied undergoes “treatment” to cure his “problem.” Of course, life will be so purposeless that people will have to be biologically or psychologically engineered either to remove their need for the power process or make them “sublimate” their drive for power into some harmless hobby. These engineered human beings may be happy in such a society, but they will most certainly not be free. They will have been reduced to the status of domestic animals. And, now here is the shocker, in Joy’s words: In the book, you don’t discover until you turn the page that the author of this passage is Theodore Kaczynski – the Unabomber. …Kaczynski’s actions were murderous and, in my view, criminally insane. He is clearly a Luddite, but simply saying this does not dismiss his argument; as difficult as it is for me to acknowledge, I saw some merit in the reasoning in this single passage. I felt compelled to confront it. Kaczynski’s dystopian vision describes unintended consequences, a wellknown problem with the design and use of technology, and one that is clearly related to Murphy’s Law – “Anything that can go wrong, will.”…The cause of many such surprises seems clear: The systems involved are complex, involving interaction among and feedback between © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page23   many parts. Any changes to such a system will cascade in ways that are difficult to predict; this is especially true when human actions are involved. I started showing friends the Kaczynski quote from The Age of Spiritual Machines; I would hand them Kurzweil’s book, let them read the quote, and then watch their reaction as they discovered who had written it. At around the same time, I found Hans Moravec’s book, Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind. Moravec is one of the leaders in robotics research, and was a founder of the world’s largest robotics research program at Carnegie Mellon University. Robot gave me more material to try out on my friends – material surprisingly supportive of Kaczynski’s argument. According to Moravec, …our main job in the 21st century will be “ensuring continued cooperation from the robot industries” by passing laws decreeing that they be “nice,” and to describe how seriously dangerous a human can be “once transformed into an unbounded superintelligent robot.” Moravec’s view is that the robots will eventually succeed us – that humans clearly face extinction. Joy wonders why more people do not share his concern and unease and suggests an answer: …Accustomed to living with almost routine scientific breakthroughs, we have yet to come to terms with the fact that the most compelling 21stcentury technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology – pose a different threat than the technologies that have come before. Specifically, robots, engineered organisms, and nanobots share a dangerous amplifying factor: they can self-replicate. A bomb is blown up only once – but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control. Much of my work over the past 25 years has been on computer networking, where the sending and receiving of messages creates the opportunity for out-of-control replication. But while replication in a computer or a computer network can be a nuisance, at worst it disables a machine or takes down a network or network service. Uncontrolled selfreplication in these newer technologies runs a much greater risk: a risk of substantial damage in the physical world. Each of these technologies also offers untold promise: the vision of near immortality that Kurzweil sees in his robot dreams drives us forward; genetic engineering may soon provide treatments, if not outright cures, for most diseases; and nanotechnology and nanomedicine can address yet more ills. Together they could significantly extend our average life span © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page24   and improve the quality of our lives. Yet, with each of these technologies, a sequence of small, individually sensible advances leads to an accumulation of great power and, concomitantly, great danger. Joy summarizes what he sees as the clear and present danger that confronts us: The 21st-century technologies – genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR) – are so powerful that they can spawn whole new classes of accidents and abuses. Most dangerously, for the first time, these accidents and abuses are widely within the reach of individuals or small groups. They will not require large facilities or rare raw materials. Knowledge alone will enable the use of them. Thus we have the possibility not just of weapons of mass destruction but of knowledge-enabled evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals. That is a sobering conclusion from a very responsible and well-informed scientist who has made his mark as one of the chief architects of the present state of cybertechnology. And he declares, “…I trust it is clear that I am not a Luddite.” Rather, he affirms a strong belief in the value of the scientific search for truth and the ability of great engineering to bring material progress. Why is he surprised to find himself in his present state of unease and foreboding? Because, he writes, Perhaps it is always hard to see the bigger impact while you are in the vortex of a change. Failing to understand the consequences of our inventions while we are in the rapture of discovery and innovation seems to be a common fault of scientists and technologists; we have long been driven by the overarching desire to know that is the nature of science’s quest, not stopping to notice that the progress to newer and more powerful technologies can take on a life of its own. This is what he sees developing before our eyes: As this enormous computing power is combined with the manipulative advances of the physical sciences and the new, deep understandings in genetics, enormous transformative power is being unleashed. These combinations open up the opportunity to completely redesign the world, for better or worse: The replicating and evolving processes that have been confined to the natural world are about to become realms of human endeavor. In designing software and microprocessors, I have never had the feeling that I was designing an intelligent machine. The software and hardware is © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page25   so fragile and the capabilities of the machine to “think” so clearly absent that, even as a possibility, this has always seemed very far in the future. But now, with the prospect of human-level computing power in about 30 years, a new idea suggests itself: that I may be working to create tools which will enable the construction of the technology that may replace our species. How do I feel about this? Very uncomfortable. Having struggled my entire career to build reliable software systems, it seems to me more than likely that this future will not work out as well as some people may imagine. My personal experience suggests we tend to overestimate our design abilities. Given the incredible power of these new technologies, shouldn’t we be asking how we can best coexist with them? And if our own extinction is a likely, or even possible, outcome of our technological development, shouldn’t we proceed with great caution? There is much more in Joy’s essay, but what I have lifted up is surely enough to answer his question in the affirmative. Let me be clear – in all of this discussion of the accelerating pace of technological breakthroughs, I am over my head; nanotechnology is beyond my capacity to conceive. When I read of molecular level “assemblers” and that “one kind of nanomachine is the assembler, which is a tiny factory that can manufacture other machines, including replicas of itself,” I confess I am in a deep fog. But, I can at least catch some sense of the frontiers on which research and development is being executed. What it means that there will be robotic humans or human robots, I can hardly imagine, but I am now aware that this is no longer the stuff of science fiction; this is where we have arrived and where the next two or three decades will bring us if we survive – an open question! Joy puts it this way: The nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) technologies used in 20thcentury weapons of mass destruction were and are largely military, developed in government laboratories. In sharp contrast, the 21st-century genetic, nanotech, robotic technologies have clear commercial uses and are being developed almost exclusively by corporate enterprises. In this age of triumphant commercialism, technology – with science as its handmaiden – is delivering a series of almost magical inventions that are the most phenomenally lucrative ever seen. We are aggressively pursuing the promises of these new technologies within the now-unchallenged system of global capitalism and its manifold financial incentives and competitive pressures. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page26   This is the first moment in the history of our planet when any species, by its own voluntary actions, has become a danger to itself – as well as to vast numbers of others. And then he continues: It might be a familiar progression, transpiring on many worlds – a planet, newly formed, placidly revolves around its star; life slowly forms; a kaleidoscopic procession of creatures evolves; intelligence emerges which, at least up to a point, confers enormous survival value; and then technology is invented. It dawns on them that there are such things as laws of Nature, that these laws can be revealed by experiment, and that knowledge of these laws can be made both to save and to take lives, both on unprecedented scales. Science, they recognize, grants immense powers. In a flash, they create world-altering contrivances. Some planetary civilizations see their way through, place limits on what may and what must not be done, and safely pass through the time of perils. Others, not so lucky or so prudent, perish. That is Carl Sagan, writing in 1994, in Pale Blue Dot, a book describing his vision of the human future in space. I am only now realizing how deep his insight was, and how sorely I miss, and will miss, his voice. For all its eloquence, Sagan’s contribution was not least that of simple common sense – an attribute that, along with humility, many of the leading advocates of the 21st-century technologies seem to lack. Well, there you have it – one person of genius celebrating our near approach to an heavenly existence, the other of equal stature predicting the damnation of hell. Which will it be? And is there no third way? Garreau answers in the affirmative – a Third Scenario. Prevail Garreau introduces us to a fascinating human being named Jaron Zepel Lanier, “one of the world’s more startling combinations of philosopher, creative artist and computer scientist” – a remarkable combination of gifts and interests, described thus: He is best known, however, for inventing “virtual reality” as a shared experience, and naming it. In his early 20’s Lanier founded VPL Research – yes, in a garage in California. It was the first company to provide research labs around the world with the then-almost-magical virtualreality paraphernalia. When he was 24, his groundbreaking work made the cover of Scientific American. Few recent innovations have had such consequences. It is difficult to buy an automobile or fly in an airplane today that wasn’t designed in virtual reality. The petroleum to fuel them © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page27   was probably found with Lanier’s inventions. City planning, building design, surgery and scientific visualization – especially of molecules important to the creation of new drugs and the understanding of proteins and genes – are being redefined by virtual-reality imaging. So is the training of police, firefighters, emergency response teams and the military. In the early 21st-century, Lanier was the chief scientist of Advanced Network and Services, the engineering office of Internet2 – a coalition of 180 American research universities sharing an experimental nextgeneration network so powerful that when they fired it up, lights dimmed all over campus, or so the story goes. He led the National Tele-Immersion Initiative. It aimed to create alternative worlds in which people at distant sites work together in a shared, simulated environment that makes them feel as if they were in the same world. “Our social contract with our own tools has brought us to a point where we have to decide fairly soon what it is we humans ought to become because we are on the brink of having the power of creating any experience we desire,” writes Howard Rheingold, an analyst of technology’s impact on society. Virtual reality “represents a kind of new contract between human and computers, an arrangement that could grant us great power, and perhaps change us irrevocably in the process.” (p. 191f) Lanier claims, “The degree to which I was a social failure is impossible to even state…It was just extreme beyond…” He had no friends in a hostile environment. Such an early life experience, Lanier points to as putting him on the track to The Prevail Scenario. Garreau compares Kurzweil, Joy and Lanier: When faced by the prospect of a sudden transformation of human nature, Ray Kurzweil, Bill Joy and Jaron Lanier each responds from the deep recesses of his soul. Kurzweil worships the power of ideas to resolve all problems; Joy in his lonely fashion engages death; Lanier attributes all his subsequent work to finding “the connection I lost.” The thinking of Kurzweil, Joy and Lanier describes a triangle. Lanier’s is not some middle vision between that of Kurzweil and Joy. He is off in an entirely other territory that pokes and prods their technological determinism. Lanier agrees with Kurzweil that it is not tremendously likely that you can stop radical evolution by willing it gone. He agrees with Joy that The Curve could lead to mortal dangers. Yet Lanier would not relinquish transcendence even were that possible. Indeed, he views the prospect of exploring all the ways humans could expand their connections as the greatest adventure on which the species has ever embarked. Lanier’s critical difference is that he does not see The Curve © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page28   yielding some inevitable, preordained result, as in the fashion of the Heaven and Hell Scenarios. “If it turns out Bill or Ray are right, I’ll be disappointed mostly because it’s such a profoundly dull and unheroic outcome,” he says. “It’s such a gizmo outcome. There is no depth to it at all.” Lanier believes it is well within the power of the species to transcend to something far beyond the current understanding of human nature. He just views as sterile the prospect of uploading some portion of our brains into computers. Instead, he pictures a rich and tasty brew of opportunities. He can see a vast array of transcendences. He imagines humans making intelligent decisions, exercising creative control. If you were graphing Lanier’s idea, it would not be represented by smooth curves, either up or down, as in the first two scenarios. It would doubtless have fits and starts, hiccups and coughs, reverses and loops – not unlike the history we humans always have known. It would be messy and chaotic, like humans themselves. Technology would not be in control. It would not be on rails, inexorably deciding human affairs. At the same time, the outcome would definitely involve radical change. I call visions like this The Prevail Scenario. Uncertainty suffuses The Prevail Scenario. For Lanier, that’s not a bug. It’s a feature. “The universe doesn’t provide us a way to have absolute truth,” he says. “I am not fanatical about my ideas. I’m perfectly happy to see where there are holes in them. This idea is something I believe – in the sense that I act on it. But let me tell you the trap I want to avoid falling into.” He judges Kurzweil and Joy to be “severe exaggerators and overstaters. Their reasoning is similar to that of a paranoid person in that they find only the little bits that fit into their worldview and build this cage in which they imprison themselves. I’m not willing to be a fanatic and demand that people see that every bit of data supports my view. I want to be given the latitude to present my own thing more softly. I actually perceive it with less of a sense of certainty and bullheadedness. It’s just my best guess.” His key point about The Prevail Scenario: “I will argue for perceiving a gradual ramp of increased bridging of the interpersonal gap. I believe that that’s demonstrable. I do not perceive it as being an exponential increase. I do not perceive it as something where there is an economy of scale and it’s compounding itself and it’s heading towards some asymptotic point. I am not saying it’s accelerating.” The Prevail Scenario, he’s saying, is measured by its impact on human society. He is specifically arguing that even if technology is on a curve, its impact is not. This is why he is skeptical about the idea of a Singularity – technology increasing so © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page29   quickly as to create an imminent and cataclysmic upheaval in human affairs. In his version of The Prevail Scenario, Lanier is talking about transcendence through an “infinite game.” “The future that I’m trying to find is one where people are in the center and there’s this everyexpanding game of connecting people that creates a game into the future.” (p. 195ff) In Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse writes of the familiar contests of everyday life – played in business and politics, in the bedroom and the battlefield. Finite games have winners and losers, a beginning and an end and players try to control the game and set the bottom line in advance and are serious and determined about getting that outcome, fixing the future based on the past. But players of infinite games, by contrast “enjoy being surprised. Continuously running into something one didn’t know will ensure that the game will go on forever…A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing to play…Infinite players play with the rules. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is an infinite game, Lanier believes. Infinite games are the real transcendence games. They allow you to transcend your boundaries. They allow you to transcend who you are.” (p. 197) Reading Lanier’s thoughts one cannot help but sense quite a different spirit and tone than we found in both the Heaven and Hell Scenarios. Lanier is dismissive of what he describes as “the religion of the elite technologists,” from Moravec to Minsky, in the halls of “true believers” at Stanford, MIT and Carnegie Mellon. They believe in a key anticipated outcome of The Heaven Scenario: “That computers are becoming autonomous and a successor species.” “My feeling about spiritual questions is that there is a tightrope that I try to stay on, not always successfully. If you fall to the right side, you become an excessive reductionist. You pretend to know more than you do and you become overly rational. If you fall to the left side, you become superstitious and you believe that there are magic tricks of meaning. Staying right on that line is where you’re a skeptic but also acknowledge the degree of mystery in our lives. If you can adhere to that, I think that’s where truth lies. Sometimes it’s lonely and frustrating. For a lot of these questions, I think ‘I don’t know’ is the most dignified and profound answer. A profound ‘I don’t know’ is the result of a lot of work.” Lanier wants to stay open to the possibility that “the world we manipulate here isn’t all there is. The world accessible by technologies isn’t all there is. I don’t want to become a superstitious fool and believe I can say anything about this other world. That’s very important. I don’t want to © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page30   start saying, ‘Oh, there are these angels here.’ The idea of God as an entity that talks and stuff doesn’t quite fit for me. It’s also not something I’m gonna dismiss.” He makes a small joke by pretending to be the systems administrator of all creation: “We have limited privileges in this area.” To describe his version of transcendence in a Prevail Scenario without falling off his tightrope, Lanier likes to talk about octopi. Actually, he also likes to talk about the psychology of early childhood, as well as the day that aliens visit the earth and perceive human nature for the first time. But these to him are all stories about the same thing – a steadily increasing ramp to transcendence that leads to deeper and better ways of bridging the interpersonal gap. Lanier’s Prevail Scenario is the search for a complex, evolving, inventive transcendence. Because it is an infinite game, it never goes into a Singularity, as in the Heaven and Hell Scenarios. Because it’s fundamentally imaginative, it doesn’t have any such simple measurement. It just expands forever. Human connectedness is “a much more profound kind of ramp,” Lanier believes. “The thing about a Singularity hypothesis is that it’s profoundly uncreative.” (p. 199f) There are unlimited Prevail Scenarios but Garreau claims Lanier’s is well articulated. They all, however, begin with these principles: • Humans have an uncanny history of muddling through – of forging unlikely paths to improbable futures in defiance of historical forces that seem certain and inevitable; • The wellspring of this muddling through, of this prevailing, is the ability of ordinary people facing overwhelming odds to rise to the occasion because it is the right thing – for example, the British “nation of shopkeepers” that defied the Third Reich. To these, Garreau relates, Lanier adds one more proposition: • Even if technology is advancing along an exponential curve, that doesn’t mean humans cannot creatively shape the impact on human nature and society in largely unpredictable ways. Thus, Garreau concludes, Prevail is an odd combination of the marvelously ordinary and the utterly unprecedented. It is so common and so rare – so old and so new – that the history of the Prevail Scenario is less well defined than that of The Heaven or Hell Scenario. (p. 206). It is not predictable by use of human logic. Ironically, it is driven by faith “in human cussedness;” we can be counted on to throw The Curve a curve! And one more proposition from Lanier regarding Prevail: • The key measure of Prevail’s success is an increasing intensity of links between humans, not transistors. If some sort of transcendence is achieved beyond today’s © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page31   understanding of human nature, it will not be through some individual becoming superman. In Lanier’s Prevail Scenario, transcendence is social, not solitary. The measure is the extent to which many transform together. (p. 210) Lanier measures the idea of progress by technological and economic advance – fire, the wheel, the steam engine. There is a second ramp – moral improvement. But neither of these is sufficient; for Lanier the third ramp is the increased connection between people. That is the real measure of the idea of progress. The third ramp, historically, starts with the invention of language and then moves to writing, drama, literature, printing, film, the telephone, radio, television, the Internet and so forth. “What you are measuring is an increase in the quantity, quality, variety and complexity of the ways humans can connect with each other. Not ways in which they become identical, but ways that they become closer. (p. 214) Garreau concludes his Radical Evolution with a chapter entitled “Transcend,” which he begins by recounting his experience at a conference called “The Adaptable Human Body: Transhumanism and Bioethics in the 21st Century” cosponsored by the Yale Interdisciplinary Bioethics Program Working Research Group on Technology and Ethics and a young organization called The World Transhumanist Association. Transhumanists are focused on the enhancement of human intellectual, physical and emotional capabilities, the elimination of disease and unnecessary suffering, and the dramatic extension of lifespan ( p. 231).Transhumanists believe it naïve to think the human condition and human nature will remain pretty much the same for much longer. They believe rather that the GRIN technologies are fundamentally changing the rules of the game. The transcend proposition rests on three premises: •The undeniable competitive advantages that the genetic, robotic, information and nano technologies convey on those who embrace them for economic, medical, educational, military, or artistic reasons suggest that these methods will continue to advance at an ever-increasing rate. •So many of these technologies – “designer babies,” augmented cognition, metabolic makeovers, anti-aging medicine and all the rest – can alter basics of the human condition. If they can modify our minds, memories, metabolisms, progeny and personalities, it seems reasonable to think that these procedures might well have an impact on what it means to be human. • The history of technologies as disruptive as these suggests that there will be unintended consequences. We will be surprised by many of the outcomes. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page32   If you accept these three propositions as reasonable bets, what you’re looking at is that rare bird, the high probability, high-impact scenario. Transcend builds on, expands and gives measure to The Prevail Scenario, in which technology does not control us, but we control technology. ( p. 233f) As he draws together the lines of the three scenarios with his discussion of transcendence, Garreau states that “the central argument about the future of human nature is whether it is fixed and immutable, once and forever, or whether it can continue to evolve.” (p. 235) A number of scholars from a variety of disciplines are heard from. Garreau has succeeded in presenting the respective scenarios honestly and without prejudice. His own leaning, however, would seem to be toward The Prevail Scenario and his final chapter reflects the manner of the Transcendence he affirms and the spiritual dimension such transcendence calls for. Coming down on the side of a continuing evolution, he recognizes the necessity of an evolving spirituality to guide that evolution in a positive, lifeaffirming direction. He writes, “Perhaps it is with our devotions that we can start choosing to steer. Right now the stories we tell do not match the facts.” (p.264) He recognizes as the most influential thinker of the twentieth century, seeking to unify the truths of science and religion, the French Jesuit scientist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In his magnum opus, The Phenomenon of Man, 1940, he argued that someday our technology would allow us to create a web of thought and action that would make the world more complex, diverse and alive, moving humankind toward an ultimate evolution – the Omega Point. He envisioned the earth as a single living organism, with all the elements of it – from the people to the birds connected like cells in a body. The goal of evolution, he suggested, is to link up individual human minds, bringing an explosion of intelligence and even global consciousness to the whole of Being. With the rise of the World Wide Web, we can see hints that he may have been right. Although Garreau does not pursue Teilhard any further, it is interesting that this amazing prophetic voice recognized the imperative of spiritual transformation in light of exploding technological breakthroughs and especially in light of the explosion of the atomic bomb whose anniversary we mark today. Teilhard believed so strongly, both as a religious thinker and as a scientist in the evolutionary process and the ongoing forward movement toward the Omega Point as he called it – a process not pushed from behind but pulled from the future, that he was not critical of the development of research on the splitting of the atom. He quoted The New Yorker, August 18, 1945, in the wake of the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – “Political plans for the new world, as shaped by statesmen, are not fantastic enough. The only conceivable way to catch up with atomic energy is with political energy directed to a universal structure” – The Future of Man, p. 146. This citation appeared in an essay entitled, “Some Reflections on the Spiritual Repercussions of the Atom Bomb.” He was aware of the devastating potential of the splitting of the atom but was so © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page33   convinced of the forward progress of the Evolutionary Process which he understood in total cosmic breadth, that he foresaw the event as leading not only to a massive leap forward in scientific and technological mastery but to spiritual growth as well. The following citations will indicate his confidence. Thus the greatest of Man’s scientific triumphs happens also to be the one in which the largest number of brains were enabled to join together in a single organism, at the same time more complex and more centred, for the purpose of research. Was this simply coincidence? Did it not rather show that in this as in other fields nothing in the universe can resist the converging energies of a sufficient number of minds sufficiently grouped and organized? Thus considered, the fact of the release of nuclear energy, overwhelming and intoxicating though it was, began to seem less tremendous. Was it not simply the first act, even a mere prelude, in a series of fantastic events which, having afforded us access to the heart of the atom, would lead us on to overthrow, one by one, the many other strongholds which science is already besieging? The vitalisation of matter by the creation of supermolecules. The re-modelling of the human organism by means of hormones. Control of heredity and sex by the manipulation of genes and chromosomes. The readjustment and internal liberation of our souls by direct action upon springs gradually brought to light by psycho-analysis. The arousing and harnessing of the unfathomable intellectual and effective powers still latent in the human mass….Is not every kind of effect produced by a suitable arrangement of matter? And have we not reason to hope that in the end we shall be able to arrange every kind of matter, following the results we have obtained in the nuclear field? (p. 149) ….But now, after that famous sunrise in Arizona, he can no longer doubt. He not only can but, of organic necessity, he must for the future assist in his own genesis. The first phase was the creation of mind through the obscure, instinctive play of vital forces. The second phase is the rebounding and acceleration of mind itself, the only principle in the world capable of combining and using for the purpose of Life, and on the planetary scale, the still-dispersed or slumbering energies of matter and of thought. It is broadly in these terms that we are obliged henceforth to envisage the grand scheme of things of which, by the fact of our existence, we find ourselves a part. (p. 150) …To me it seems that thanks to the atom bomb it is war, not mankind, that is destined to be eliminated, and for two reasons. The first, which we all know and long for, is that the very excess of destructive power placed in our hands must render all armed conflict impossible. But what is even more important, although we have thought less about it, is that war will be eliminated at its source in our hearts because, compared with the vast field © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page34   for conquest which science has disclosed to us, its triumphs will soon appear trivial and outmoded. Now that a true objective is offered us, one that we can only attain by striving with all our power in a concerted effort, our future action can only be convergent, drawing us together in an atmosphere of sympathy. I repeat, sympathy, because to be ardently intent upon a common object is inevitably the beginning of love. In affording us a biological, ‘phyletic’ outlet directed upwards, the shock which threatened to destroy us will have the effect of giving us a sense of direction and a dynamic force and finally (within certain limits) of making us of one mind. The atomic age is not the age of destruction but of union in research. For all their military trappings, the recent explosions at Bikini herald the birth into the world of a Mankind both inwardly and outwardly pacified. They proclaim the coming of the Spirit of the Earth…. (p. 152) In short, the final effect of the light cast by the atomic fire into the spiritual depths of the earth is to illumine within them the overriding question of the ultimate end of Evolution – that is to say, the problem of God. (p. 153) The great scientist, humanist Albert Einstein, was not as sanguine about the atomic breakthrough. Teilhard, so convinced of evolutionary progress, recognized the need for a supra-national governing authority to control the atomic breakthrough, but that was not what was his over-riding concern. For Einstein it was. In his 700-page volume, Einstein On Peace, (including notes and index) one could cite his grave concern on almost any page. While Einstein’s passion for supra-sovereign authority and the end of war is not the subject of this address, in light of yet another anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, I quote Einstein in this context. Before the raid on Hiroshima, leading physicists urged the War Department not to use the bomb against defenseless women and children. The war could have been won without it. The decision was made in consideration of possible future loss of American lives; but now we have to consider the possible loss, in future atomic bombings, of millions of lives. The American decision may have been a fatal error, for men accustom themselves to thinking that a weapon which was used once can be used again. Had we allowed other nations to witness the text explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico, the bomb would have served as an education for new ideas. This would have been an impressive and favorable moment to make considered proposals for world order to end war. Our renunciation of this weapon as too terrible to use would have carried great weight in negotiations and would have convinced the other nations of our sincerity in asking for their co-operation in developing these newly unleashed powers for good and peaceful purposes. (p. 386) © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page35   In an interview with newscaster Robert Trout, CBS, May 28, 1946, Einstein was asked, “And you believe, Dr. Einstein, that this thinking man can solve our great problem for us?” Einstein gave a lengthy answer which began, “I believe nothing else can.” Further along in the interview, prompted by Archibald MacLeish, Einstein said, “Just as we have changed our thinking in the world of pure science to embrace newer and more useful concepts, so we must now change our thinking in the world of politics and law. It is too late to make mistakes.” (p. 378f) Garreau brings his discussion of transcendence to a close on a religious note. Humans find an absence of explanations for how the world works profoundly unsettling. That’s why the search for this new grand story becomes important. Yet when you start talking to professionals who are thinking about what this narrative might be like, you find it to be an almost entirely secular group – the subject of God rarely comes up. I am not particularly religious myself, but the American people overwhelmingly are. So it occurred to me to wonder what transcendence might have meant historically to the worldwide range of the devout. You’d think over the last three thousand years or so, we might find a few hints in their work as to how to think about this fix. (p. 257) Garreau points to Karen Armstrong and her reference to Karl Jaspers, the German philosopher of history, who spoke of the Axial Age – “a period of unique and fundamental focus on transcendence that is “the beginning of humanity as we now know it.” All over the world, humans simultaneously began to wake up to a burning need to grapple with deep and cosmic questions. All the major religious beliefs are rooted in this period. “The search for spiritual breakthrough was no less intense and urgent than the pursuit of technological advance is in our own,” she says. “That’s quite endorsing, actually. Instead of seeing your own tradition as an idiosyncratic, lonely quest, it becomes part of what human beings do, part of a universal search for meaning and value. This is the kind of scenario that the human mind goes through in its search for ultimate meaning.” “If there is an axis in history, we must find it empirically,” Jaspers wrote. The spiritual process which took place between 800 and 200 B.C. seems to constitute such an axis. It was then that the man with whom we live today came into being. Let us designate this period as the “axial age”. Extraordinary events are crowded into this period. In China lived Confucius and Lao Tse, all the trends in Chinese philosophy arose, it was the era of Mo Tse, Chuang Tse and countless others. In India it was the age of the upanishads and of Buddha; as in China, all philosophical trends, including skepticism and materialism, sophistry and nihilism, were © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page36   developed. In Iran Zarathustra put forward his challenging conception of the cosmic process as a struggle between good and evil; in Palestine prophets arose: Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Deutero-Isaiah; Greece produced Homer, the philosophers Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plato, the tragic poets, Thucydides, Archimedes. All the vast development of which these names are a mere intimation took place in these few centuries, independently and almost simultaneously in China, India and the West. The new element in this age is that man everywhere became aware of being as a whole, of himself and his limits. He experienced the horror of the world and his own helplessness. He raised radical questions, approached the abyss in his drive for liberation and redemption. And in consciously apprehending his limits he set himself the highest aims. He experienced the absolute in the depth of selfhood and in the clarity of transcendence. Armstrong is fascinated by the human universals operating amid the tumultuous upheaval of that cultural revolution. What caused dispersed civilizations simultaneously to develop these broad, transcendent ideas? There is no human culture that does not incorporate some notion of religion. Even nonbelievers develop systems such as Marxism that sport all the trappings of religion. This evidence causes Armstrong to believe that religion is an essential human need, as unlikely to be outgrown as our need for art. She sees religion as a universal search for meaning and values. She believes it is hardwired. “Human beings cannot endure emptiness and desolation,” Armstrong writes. “They will fill the vacuum by creating a new focus of meaning.” Think of the constellations in the night sky. Humans eagerly connect dots and come up with the most elaborate – even poetic tales, adorning them with heroes and myths, rather than tolerate randomness. The desire to believe goes way back in evolutionary history…” (p. 258f) Garreau suggests that this may give us a clue about human nature. Maybe this tells us something about human nature. That we are patternseeking, storytelling animals. If one sees belief as reflecting a hardwired need for meaning and values, then perhaps in the Axial Age we filled the emptiness of our emerging consciousness with the highest aspirations for human nature we could possibly imagine. This raises the interesting question of whether we are due for a new Axial Age. If our narratives of how the world works are not matching the facts, are we seeking a new era of sense, intelligibility, clarity, continuity and unity? If profound restatements of how the world works arose all over the planet the last time we had a transition on the scale of that from biological © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page37   evolution to cultural evolution, will it happen again as we move from cultural to technological evolution? (p. 259f) Garreau quotes Betty Sue Flowers who was the editor of The Power of Myth, the book by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers that accompanied the acclaimed PBS series by the same name. Flowers affirms, “This is a spiritual crisis. It’s not about science.” He references Martin E.P. Seligman who points out that there are three levels of human existence – the pleasant life, the good life, and the meaningful life. The third form of happiness that is inevitably sought by humans is the pursuit of a meaningful life. “There is one thing we know about meaning,” says Seligman, “that meaning consists in attachment to something bigger than you are. The larger the thing that you can credibly attach yourself to, the more meaning you get out of life. Aristotle said the two noblest professions are teaching and politics, and I believe that as well. Raising children, and projecting a positive human future through your children, is a meaningful form of life. Saving the whales is a meaningful form of life. Fighting in Iraq is a meaningful form of life. Being an Arab terrorist is a meaningful form of life. Notice this isn’t a distinction between good and evil. That’s not part of this. This isn’t a theory of everything. This is a theory of meaning, and the theory says, joining and serving in things larger than you that you believe in while using your highest strengths is a recipe for meaning… It’s impossible that there will be a drug for meaning, Seligman says. But if meaning suggests deploying your greatest strengths in the service of something you believe is larger than you – pursuing the infinite game – that would seem to go to the heart of the measure of The Prevail Scenario: increased human connections. (p. 261f) Garreau references Karen Armstrong again pointing to what is a dominant theme in her work – compassion. “Religion isn’t about believing things,” Armstrong says. “It’s ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness. It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as it leads you to practical compassion. If your belief in a traditional God makes you come out imbued with a desire to feel with your fellow human beings, to make a place for them in your heart, to work to end suffering in the world, then it’s good.” Introducing compassion into the equation is at the core of meaning. “Without more kindliness in the world, technological power would mainly serve to increase man’s capacity to inflict harm on one another,” Bertrand Russell once wrote. Compassion may thus be at the core of successfully © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page38   managing transcendence – of coming up with a practical way to Prevail over the blind forces of change. (p. 262) In this context, Garreau reaches back to Kurzweil, the champion of The Heaven Scenario along with one more reference to Teilhard: “Evolution moves toward greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and more of other abstract and subtle attributes, such as love,” observes Ray Kurzweil. “And God has been called all these things, only without any limitation: infinite knowledge, infinite intelligence, infinite beauty and so on. Of course, even the accelerating growth of evolution never achieves an infinite level, but as it explodes exponentially it moves rapidly in that direction. So evolution moves inexorably toward our conception of God, albeit never quite reaching this ideal. Thus the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form may be regarded as an essential spiritual quest.” “Someday after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love,” writes Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. “And then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire.” (p. 262) Garreau concludes by suggesting that perhaps we should create new rituals – maybe “a liturgy of life everlasting as a person receives her first cellular agereversing workup.” Will these rituals do any good? I don’t know. Do baptisms, marriages and funerals – sanctifying birth, copulation and death do any good? My experience says yes. At the very least they are celebrations of transformation where people cross barriers – barriers of class, gender, region, race and religion. They bring us together by officially marking and embracing critical moments. On these occasions, human connections that are rarely achieved elsewhere routinely occur. If we are embarking on a path in which we stand to transform ourselves more than at any brief period in our species’ time on earth, we are creating new critical moments. Perhaps we might start formally marking the occasions. If we did, inviting those we know from all walks of life and all levels of ability to these ceremonies, it would continue to knit together the fabrics of all the different kinds of human natures to come. It would be about creating the third happiness, the happiness of being part of something much larger than us. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page39   It would be about continuing to march up the ramp of human connectedness. That, after all, might just possibly be the ultimate transcendence. (p. 265) As I set forth the current human situation regarding the radical evolution we are experiencing, I think of it in terms of the biblical story. Garreau suggests quite rightly that the story we tell does not fit the facts. However, as the philosopher, Santayana, counseled, guard the story because it takes 2000 years to create a new one. And maybe the story still speaks if we can move beyond the ancient mythic form in which it comes, taken literally, and ask what questions those ancient writers were addressing. Take, for example, the story of the first temptation in the Garden of Eden recorded in Genesis 3: The First Sin and Its Punishment Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die’.” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. Is this really about snakes and apples? Isn’t it really about the potential and the limits of human knowledge? The biblical tradition in the Christian tradition speaks of this yielding to the temptation to seek knowledge as “The Fall”. The great English poet, John Milton, however, spoke of “the paradox of The Fortunate Fall.” Was not the ancient author perhaps expressing the very thing we have been occupied with – promise and peril of ever-expanding human knowing and taking under control the “building blocks” of Creation. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page40   Or, think of Psalm 8: Divine Majesty and Human Dignity O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; You have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Thinking of the human being in the midst of the majestic wonder of the cosmos, the writer recognizes our smallness, yet the reality is that it is precisely the human who is contemplating the cosmic miracle, and then goes on to affirm that we are made “a little lower than God”! The older King James version has “a little lower than the angels” perhaps drawing back from any reference to God. Quite an amazing affirmation of the human over two millennia ago. Finally, look to that final vision in the New Testament, The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. It is a violent, bloody apocalyptic vision of the End. Yet it closes with a marvelous picture of The City of God – The New Jerusalem – coming down from God in Heaven, when tears will be wiped away and death will be no more. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Promise and Peril of Being Human Richard A. Rhem Page41   The New Heaven and the New Earth Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; Mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” And, finally, in the final chapter, the moving vision of The City. The River of Life Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. From the Garden of Edenic bliss, through slings and arrows of human history to the City of God. That’s The Story. Maybe there is more there than meets the eye. Perhaps if we react to it with new eyes, it still fits the facts or gives room for them. References: Joel Garreau, Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies -- and What It Means to Be Human. New York: Doubleday, 2005. © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Scripture Text Psalm 8, Genesis 3:1-7, Rev. 21:1-4, 22-25, 22:1-2 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Joel Garreau, Radical Evolution, 2005. 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-0-20090809 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-08-09 Title A name given to the resource The Promise and Peril of Being Human 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 August 9, 2009 entitled "The Promise and Peril of Being Human", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Psalm 8, Genesis 3:1-7, Rev. 21:1-4, 22-25, 22:1-2. 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 Divine Mystery Emergence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc5a61ec9d6088fc3f475aee620b1669.pdf 2137dbaf0b4a677585c3ef4e18e9ac60 PDF Text Text Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust, Mother’s Place Ganges, Michigan September 13, 2009 Today is my last presentation for the 2009 season – my fifth this summer – and I want to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to Tapas and the community that gathers here for the privilege I have been afforded in my retirement to continue to reflect and write and present on subjects that catch my attention and interest – subjects I think are critical for our consideration as we continue to wonder about our human existence and what we are being called to be in this age of Radical Evolution. Radical Evolution – that is the title of the book by Joel Garreau about which I spoke last time. I can usually discern whether I did well or not by Nancy’s response. I think the grade last month was C+ plus grace. As she told me, “The folks that come, come for an ‘emotional fix’ from you.” She did not add the obvious – and you aimed at their heads and missed! That isn’t a new problem for me. Most of my ministry I have been tolerated because my people sort of liked me and put up with me even though I apparently shot over their heads with regularity. But I am not really penitent because I am convinced that the things with which I deal are of critical importance for our human being. I do, however, recognize the necessity of making that with which we deal touch the heart as well as the head. And so let me attempt to portray our human situation in the context of where we have emerged and suggest that the only hope for a human and humane future lies in the love of God which we find incarnate in Jesus. Let me be clear. I speak as a Christian. I speak as a Christian who loves his faith tradition, who loves and, with his whole being, would follow Jesus. But I speak not in an exclusivistic sense that Jesus is the only exemplar of the Love which is our only hope. Jesus is my window to God, not the only window to God. I learned that so powerfully one day at the magnificent cathedral at Chartres outside Paris. I led a tour group of a couple dozen and I had been told that an Englishman named Malcomb Miller had lived in the shadow of the cathedral for years and gave a fascinating lecture and tour of the cathedral. We arranged for our group to meet him and his lecture was as good as I had been told. We gathered in the nave. Beautiful stained glass windows were brilliant in the © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 2   morning sunshine. Our guide told us something I had never realized – the windows were created to reflect biblical characters and biblical narratives – that was obvious, but then he said, the cathedral was like a town library before the printing press. Here the people were taught the biblical story in visual images. We were then taken through the great cathedral, Malcomb Miller knowing, it seemed, every stone and carving in that high expanse of sacred space – the transcepts, the choir, the chancel, the magnificent Rose Window over the altar. At some point it came to me as a parable. I imagined all the great religious traditions – each religious group gathered before one of the great windows, the window telling its story in stained glass – Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Native Peoples – some in the Nave, some in the Transcepts, some in the Choir, the Chancel – each group focused on a particular story – not contradictory stories but complementary stories. And then – as a burst of light – I thought – different stories, but all illuminated by One Light. I had been probing this whole question. To be sure, I was ready for such an answer but the cathedral image provided me with a story that focused for me the whole question of the universality of the religious quest and the recognition that in each of the great religious traditions there was a common purpose – that the respective stories of the human family address ultimate questions of our beginnings, our endings, and the meaning of the human adventure and how we should then live. In sum, I was and am convinced that in all the great religions there is the mediation of truth and grace to live and die by. It seems so obvious to me at this point in my life. After that excursus, if I speak of the biblical story and the Love of God that came to expression in Jesus, you will hear me speaking of a particular expression or story in the context of a universal quest. Last month I spoke of the heady and harrowing place we humans have come at present with the knowledge and techniques we possess – the information explosion with the Internet, robotics, genetics, and nanotechnology, creating amazing, incredible potential for good or ill. All of that was a bit technical perhaps even though what Garreau was portraying as the radical evolution we are engaged with has very practical implications and ramifications: Where does our future lie? Will our further progress lead us to a heavenly world or a hellish world? Or will we just keep on muddling through – will we prevail? But there is a bigger picture that I want to paint today, to set, as it were, the present moment and crisis in a cosmic context. In the biblical story, “in the beginning” God calls creation into existence from nothing. Then ensues the story of the temptation and fall of the human being. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 3   For the rest, the biblical story is a story of human sin and divine grace, God providing redemption leading to the original purpose of God – the creation of a new heaven and earth and the Shalom of God emerging, the darkness being banished. That story – and it is a story which our ancestors told to make sense of the human situation as they experienced it – that story reflected some profound understanding of the human, historical situation – The cosmos does not ground itself but is grounded in that which calls it into being. And the human being is in the image of God, always before the decision to choose wisely or destructively – and it is universally true that humans fail in the test. Human test, human failure, human guilt, and human hope for redemption. Somehow that is all involved in those early Genesis stories or myths. But that story of beginning and human unfolding, while still appreciated for what was being wrestled with, no longer can be our story because our knowledge and understanding of the cosmos, of the evolutionary unfolding of the cosmic reality – the movement from Big Bang to the present – tells us an amazing tale that makes the Genesis account pale in comparison. It is a mind-boggling account that has only been available to us for a little over a century. In Joel Garreau’s Radical Evolution, which portrays for us where we are in terms of what is presently within human capacity, he makes an obvious statement, but a statement that should give us pause as religious people with our respective stories. Garreau declares, “Right now the stories we tell do not match the facts.” (p. 264) One of the truly great and visionary thinkers, who as a scientist had penetrating knowledge of and insight into the natural order and who simultaneously was concerned to relate that knowledge to his Christian faith understanding, was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. A leading paleontologist whose scientific credentials were unquestioned, he was also a devout Roman Catholic belonging to the Jesuit Society. In his most important work, The Phenomenon of Man, Teilhard created a new story, a story based on the best scientific knowledge, an amazing intuitive gift of imagination and a profound faith in God as Source, Ground and Goal of the unfolding cosmic process. In a few paragraphs from Wikipedia, his teaching as it came to expression in his posthumously published magnum opus is summarized: …Teilhard writes of the unfolding of the material cosmos, from primordial particles to the development of life, human beings and the noosphere, © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 4   and finally to his vision of the Omega Point in the future, which is “pulling” all creation towards it. He was a leading proponent of orthogenesis, the idea that evolution occurs in a directional, goal-driven way. To Teilhard, evolution unfolded from cell to organism to planet to solar system and whole-universe (see Gaia theory). Such theories are generally termed teleological views of evolution. Teilhard attempts to make sense of the universe by its evolutionary process. He interprets mankind as the axis of evolution into higher consciousness, and postulates that a supreme consciousness, God, must be drawing the universe towards him… Teilhard studied what he called the rise of spirit, or evolution of consciousness, in the universe. He believed it to be observable and verifiable in a simple law he called the Law of Complexity/Consciousness. This law simply states that there is an inherent compulsion in matter to arrange itself in more complex groupings, exhibiting higher levels of consciousness. The more complex the matter, the more conscious it is. Teilhard proposed that this is a better way to describe the evolution of life on earth, rather than Herbert Spencer’s “survival of the fittest.” The universe, he argued, strives towards higher consciousness, and does so by arranging itself into more complex structures. Teilhard identified what he termed to be different stages in the rise of consciousness. These stages are analogous to what are termed the geosphere and the biosphere. The Law of Complexity/Consciousness traces matter’s path through these stages, as it ‘complexifies’ upon itself and rises in consciousness. Teilhard claimed that, although it is not evident, consciousness (in an extremely limited degree) exists even in rocks, as the Law of Complexity/Consciousness implies. In plants, matter is complex enough to exhibit a consciousness that is the very life of the plant. In animals, matter is conscious enough to an extraordinary degree to where consciousness shows itself in a wide range of reactionary movement to the whole universe. However, Teilhard here proposed another level of consciousness, to which human beings belong, because of their cognitive ability; i.e. their ability to ‘think’. Human beings, Teilhard argued, represent the layer of consciousness which has “folded back in upon itself”, and has become self-conscious. Julian Huxley, Teilhard’s scientific colleague, described it like this: “evolution is nothing but matter become conscious of itself.” © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 5   So, in addition to the geosphere and the biosphere, Teilhard posited another sphere, which is the realm of human beings, the realm of reflective thought: the noosphere. In the noosphere Teilhard believed the same Law of Complexity/Consciousness to be at work, although not in a way previously seen. He argued that, ever since human beings first came into existence 200,000 years ago, the Law of Complexity/Consciousness began to run on a different (higher) plane. Consciousness in the universe, he argued, now continues to rise in the complex arrangement and unification (Teilhard sometimes called it ‘totalization’ of mankind on earth.) As human beings converge around the earth, he reasoned, unifying themselves in ever more complex forms of arrangement, consciousness will rise. Finally, the keystone to his phenomenology is that, because Teilhard could not explain why the universe would move in the direction of more complex arrangements and higher consciousness, he postulated that there must exist ahead of the moving universe, and pulling it along, a higher pole of supreme consciousness, which he called Omega Point. This is an amazing vision. An evolving, emerging cosmic reality from primordial particles to the development of life, human beings with conscious awareness, an envelope of mind/intelligence/consciousness being “pulled” toward the Omega Point. He believed evolution occurs in a directional, goal-driven way. “To Teilhard, evolution unfolded from cell to organism to planet to solar system and whole universe”– and God is drawing the universe toward Him. Now there is a new story. It is a story as Genesis is a story, but there is this difference. Genesis is an ancient story of an ancient people asking deeply human questions and the story reflects some deep truths or experiences which the writer brought to expression. Teilhard, too, composed a story reflective of a deep faith in God – Creator/Source/Ground and Goal of the whole process, but his story takes account of all available knowledge of our cosmic journey as the secrets of the universe have been laid bare through scientific investigation. The hard evidence of science is gathered and the grand evolutionary movement of reality is analyzed. But, of course, that evidence cannot answer the question of the mystery of beginnings nor the mystery of the end. There the believing man expresses his faith that this cosmic dance is not an accident, or simply a random unfolding of a meaningless cosmic phenomenon along whose unfolding has appeared life, consciousness, and the human being who – as Garreau suggests – is seizing the keys of creation and beginning to determine its future course. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I must say I was enthralled with Teilhard’s The Phenomenon of Man. Written in 1938, he was anticipating the very kinds of developments Garreau tells us in his Radical Evolution are now within our reach. The work was not published until 1955 because Teilhard was forbidden by the Roman Catholic hierarchy to publish his work during his life and, being obedient to his Jesuit vows of obedience, he did not. Posthumously his manuscripts were published and it is amazing how far-seeing was his vision before the actual scientific data was known. Over fifty years after Teilhard’s grand imaginative story, Gordon Kaufman, Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, wrote In Face of Mystery (1993) and as I revisit that study I am amazed that what Kaufman reflects on was already envisioned by Teilhard. Kaufman writes, …the traditional notion that God works through all of cosmic history – and is working in human history in particular toward the creation of a thoroughly humane order (that is, toward human salvation) – now becomes understood in terms of the modern notion of the evolutionaryhistorical process within which humanity has emerged and developed: the serendipitous creativity underlying and working through all reality is expressing itself here (over many aeons of time) in a trajectory toward human and humane orders of being. In a slow, long-term development of this sort the direction in which things are moving may, of course, remain unclear for a very long time. Not until a stage of considerable differentiation and specification has been reached is it possible to imagine, or make judgments about, what is really happening; and even then many quite diverse possibilities remain open. But each new stage of the ongoing biohistorical process specifies a bit more precisely what directions the movement is going and what outcomes may be expected, as some possibilities are cut off and eliminated, and others are opened up and increasingly realized; and there may come a moment of decisive “revelation” of what is going on in the process as a whole. Thus, for example, at the moment of cosmic time in which the earth was gradually cooling and solidifying from the ball of fire it had earlier been, there would have been no way to anticipate or predict that in due course it would become a womb and home for living creatures. Later on, when living organisms began to appear in the sea, it would hardly have been possible to guess that they would eventually evolve into myriads of species of life – birds, insects, animals, plants with infinite varieties of flowers and fruits, and so on. Even with the appearance of mammals it could hardly have been suspected that anthropoids would appear further down the road. And with the emergence of fully formed Homo there was © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 7   still no sufficient basis to foresee the development of ancient Egypt, Babylon, India, China, Greece, or Rome – and certainly not the various forms of modern civilization. However, if from the vantage point of modern humanity we look back over this long cumulation of events, we may begin to discern what appears to be a more or less continuous line of development up to the present. It is striking to realize that this line was not visible until the last half of the nineteenth century; before that (even one hundred years earlier), it could not be seen at all. It seems, thus, that with a trajectory of this sort what is going on is by no means evident at all points along the way; the events which give it its distinct character and significance become determinate only in the course of the process itself. Only as certain crucial thresholds were crossed did new possibilities appear and in due course become realized; and only after many such decisive thresholds were crossed did beings appear with a vantage point enabling them to see that it was possible to interpret this whole development as somehow implicit from the beginning. One speaks of a “process of development” when one can specify certain points or stages through which a particular trajectory has proceeded, the process as a whole being marked off and defined by some (at least implicit) beginning and end. “End” and “beginning” and “process of development” are thus all logically interconnected with one another; they illuminate and determine one another conceptually, and no one of them can be clearly understood – as the “end” or the “beginning” of “this particular process” – without the others. Because of these conceptual interconnections we are inclined to think of the end of a particular process of development as implicit from its beginning; and if it happens to be the process of our own development into humanness that we are considering, it will be of importance to us to attempt to see, on the basis of the direction it seems to have followed up to the point at which we humans now find ourselves, where it may be going. (p. 386f) Where are we going? That is the critical question and to what degree will we move the process toward the realization of a humane community of love and experience union and communion with God – the vision that captivated Teilhard? On Friday we remembered 9/11. That date has been imprinted indelibly on our minds and hearts. A writer who for twenty years wrote science musings for the Boston Globe, Chet Raymo, wrote a piece in the wake of that horrendous event. He entitled it “The Problem of Good,” and after beautifully describing a celestial scene as he gazed upon the heavens, he raises the question in the third paragraph: “Why must human violence disturb nature’s peace? But on second thought he writes, © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 8   …But, of course, I had it exactly backwards. It is nature that is violent. Astronomers point out how few places in the universe are sufficiently calm for life to exist. Massive black holes at the centers of galaxies gobble gas and stars. In the arms of galaxies, suns explode with a violence that shatters surrounding worlds. Comets and asteroids smash into planets. Galaxies collide… We now understand that violence and death are corollaries of life. To persist, living creatures must take matter and energy from their environment. As life proliferates, competition for resources becomes inevitable. Aggression is advantageous, even necessary. Genetic variations that confer a competitive advantage are favored in the struggle to survive. If nature were not cruel, conscious creatures such as ourselves would never have evolved. It is as Loren Eisely wrote: “Instability lies at the heart of the world.” The criminals who wreaked havoc on New York and Washington were acting out an ancient biological script. Yet there is ground for hope. Our brains are of sufficient complexity to give rise to that mysterious thing known as self-awareness. Our genes may predispose us to act in certain ways, good or bad, but they do not constrain us. We are effectively free to choose good over evil. Humans alone, of all the things we know about in the universe, can escape the bipolar logic of evolution. To a cheering extent we have done so. As Margaret Meade pointed out, the circle of those whom we do not kill has steadily expanded throughout human history. The optimists among us imagine that the circle will ultimately embrace the entire planet. From nature’s point of view, there is no such thing as the Problem of Evil: order and disorder, life and death, cooperation and competition are the twin principles of nature’s creative force. What humans uniquely face is the Problem of Good: How to create on this tiny planet an oasis of unalloyed peace. “The Problem of Good.” I was struck by that phrase. I don’t think I had ever run into it; I had never heard it spoken – the problem of good. I have heard a lot about the problem of evil, of course. The problem of evil is a constant focus of attention for our time. The problem of evil is portrayed for us and documented for us 24-7, with the ceaseless coverage of the world by the cable news networks. We are constantly facing the evil and the tragedy in the world. But what about the good? As Chet Raymo suggests, evil, violence and war are not © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page 9   the whole story. There are signs of growing humanization. The problem of good is “to create on this tiny planet an oasis of unalloyed peace.” In two places in the New Testament occurs a brief statement I have come to greatly value. The statement is, No one has ever seen God… It occurs in John 1:1-18 and I John 4:12. The consensus of scholarship locates the origin of both the Gospel of John and the Epistles of John in Ephesus, The Gospel, the earlier document dated in the 90’s of the first century. The Epistles are usually assigned a date around 100 C.E. This is only of interest to us because this means the Jesus Movement that was becoming the Christian church had, by the time of these writings, three generations of believers and enough time for questions and conflicts to arise. Coming to these statements from my own faith understanding, I see the statement “No one has ever seen God” as an acknowledgement of Mystery. Interestingly, The Gospel begins, In the beginning was the Word…. Word in the Greek language being Logos, the term used to express reason. So we are dealing with the subject of the revelation of God who can only be spoken of mythologically, but the Christian myth here being described claims to be about the Logos: myths about Logos as it were! Of course, my claim will be challenged because Jesus was a concrete figure of history and the writer claims precisely that the Logos was enfleshed in the human, Jesus of Nazareth. This is exactly the claim the writer makes after the acknowledgement that no one has ever seen God. He goes on: It is God the only Son…who has made him known. This is the explicit claim of the central Christian claim of Incarnation: The Word became flesh! The mystery of the God no one has ever seen has now a “face” and therein lies the clue to the mystery of God. Jesus is the epiphany (manifestation) of God. The First Epistle of John has as its central thrust the Incarnation as well. Its opening words make that clear: © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page10   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. But I am fascinated by what I judge to be a further development of the idea of incarnation. In the First Epistle, following “No one has ever seen God,” we read: If we love one another God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. A bit later, the writer underscores that claim: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. (vs. 16) Has not the author of the Epistle expanded on the idea of Incarnation? Now it is not only the luminosity of the divine enfleshment in Jesus as the locus of revelation; rather what came to expression in Jesus has expanded to the community of love. In sum, the Johannine Community believed God is love, a love that found concretion in the human being, Jesus, as the revelation of the mystery of love, a revelation that came to expression in the life of Jesus of Nazareth or, as I like to express it – in The Way of Jesus. (Just a reminder of where we began – for the Christian community Jesus is a window into the mystery, but not exclusively so.) Teilhard had a grand vision – the evolution of the cosmos– in which has emerged, after 13.7 billion years, a human being with self-consciousness and intelligence, an evolutionary reality grounded in a Creator and being “pulled” into the future toward the Omega Point – the total unification of personalized reality in God. Gordon Kaufman remarks that, in agreement with Teilhard, there is no reason to assume the evolutionary process has reached its end; the process continues. Chet Raymo is shaken by human violence after 9/11, but on deeper reflection sees the violent course of the cosmic evolutionary drama but recognizes the issue before us is the problem of good. Kaufman asks where are we going? Raymo suggests the problem of good is to create “on this tiny planet an oasis of unalloyed peace.” Only love can create a global community of wellbeing. Only non-violent resistance to evil and tangible expression of love in action can save us. For us, it is not a problem of evil, it is a problem of good. It is a problem of finding a way to make the good predominate. It is a way with our consciousness whereby we can become self-aware and resist that native move to violent response. And, good grief, we have come a long way. We do care for the weak. We do recognize the call to compassion. We do care, not only for our own, but we © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page11   recognize the intrinsic value of humanness. We have come a long way. And yet, collectively, we still live in tribal culture. For us it is the problem of the good. There is no reality apart from the reality in which we are woven, and the reality into which we are woven is the externalization of the Infinite Mystery that is God, Spirit externalizing, Spirit incarnating, and that which is incarnate becoming conscious of Spirit so that that which becomes incarnate and conscious says, “I don’t have to go any longer in this native course, this natural course, this ordinary human kind of response. I can stop. I can become aware of myself. I can recognize that what is necessary is not to perpetuate the hell on earth, but at some point to stop it.” Jesus knew that. Jesus actively resisted the domination system of his day. Jesus was crucified because the old system will always rise up violently, because the old system believes that what is at stake is survival. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They knew what they were doing. They were surviving. They were surviving, if need be, by violence. But, they didn’t ultimately, not in the long run, for violence begets violence… It is a self-creating universe and it is violent and it is brutal, and there is no one out there tweaking the system. But, that self-creating universe has come to the likes of you and me who have had a taste of decency, who know a thing or two about civility, who know that the intention of God that became human was an intention that that human might learn to love, for God is love, and the one who dwells in love dwells in God, and God dwells in that one. So that the Infinite Mystery that is love becomes concrete and tangible in that interrelationship of love, person to person. In that relationship of love, person to person, that native response to violence is undercut. It is possible to come to a point, if there were a critical mass living thus, that the world could be changed. There was a Trappist monk in Algeria, a Prior of the monastery there. Algeria has been one of those hot spots of Islamic fundamentalism conflicting with the government. Sensing the dangers around him, Dom Christian de Cherge, Prior of the Trappist monastery, had written a letter which was sealed and to be opened only in the case of his murder. Two years later, in 1996, seven Trappist monks were beheaded. The letter was opened on the day of Pentecost after the prior’s death. In the letter, de Cherge indicated that if he were killed, he didn’t want any reaction against Islam or a caricaturing of Islam. Committed as he was to interreligious dialogue, he indicated he had remained in Algeria as a fraternal presence. He concluded the letter by saying that some day he and his murderer would both meet in paradise before the God they both worshiped. So, a man anticipates a violent end and he writes a letter just in case, and when it happens, he says, “Please don’t retaliate. Please don’t damn the enemy. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Tell Me a Story Richard A. Rhem Page12   Because he’s not my enemy. He is my brother, and he who murders me will stand with me one day in the presence of God.” Now, you figure that one out and you will have the formula for quite a different world. Some years ago there was a film that moved me greatly. It was called Places of the Heart. Perhaps you saw it. A rural Texas farmer is murdered. His widow is left with a crop to harvest. A black man comes through town looking for work. She hires him. She boards a blind man. Between them, they struggle and they harvest the crop and they save the farm, only to see the Ku Klux Klan move in and drive the black man away with their burning cross in the yard. And one’s heart sinks and one has to say, “That’s always the way it is!” But, the film then moves off into an ethereal future and there’s a church service in that little rural community. And there’s the man who was murdered and the man who murdered him. There’s the bully of the Ku Klux Klan and the black man and the widow and the blind man. And they pass the bread and the cup down the row with the words, “The peace of Christ be with you.” And at first I wondered if the filmmaker was mocking the communion of the church as though one thing goes on out there and then we come here as though it isn’t true, but I think, rather, since the passage that was read in the service was I Corinthians 13, he was saying, “Now – but then. Then, finally, love’s vulnerability will triumph over all of our selfishness and our self-centeredness and our failure to care, our violent ways that beget violence. Only love has the power to change us. Only love can create a cosmic future. Someday love will! References: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The Phenomenon of Man, 1938, published 1955. Joel Garreau. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – and What it Means to be Human. Broadway, 2006. Gordon D. Kaufman. In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology. Harvard University Press, 1995. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. The Phenomenon of Man, 1938, pubished 1955. Joel Garreau. Radical Evolution, 2006. Gordon Kaufman. In Face of Mystery, 1995. 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-0-20090913 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-09-13 Title A name given to the resource Tell Me a Story Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 13, 2009 entitled "Tell Me a Story", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. 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 Evolution Emergence Mystery https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/42f6e0b660eb34ebe37d38bd20a264c9.pdf 166603baf6801f916dd4a9545ae298ea PDF Text Text Symbol and Ritual: Healing the Heart as We Say Goodbye In the Presence of Mystery Ecclesiastes 3:1-23; II Corinthians 4:16-5:5; I Corinthians 15:20 Richard A. Rhem Grand Haven Community Center Grand Haven, Michigan All Saints Day, November 1, 2009 Transcription of the spoken sermon Having decided that we would gather once again as dear friends with wonderful shared memories, the next thing was to find a date. Being retired I’m always available but, in the case of Mr. Bryson, that is not the case. He seems to get busier as the years go by as congregations ply for his services. And then to find a date free on his calendar that coincided with an open Sunday on Gwenneth’s calendar was the challenge. The first such date was today, November 1, which happens to be All Saints Day. The date was set sometime near the end of August, the time of the funeral of Teddy Kennedy. Nancy and I spent nearly eight hours in front of the TV that day, totally immersed in the event. I knew immediately what I wanted to deal with this morning – the Funeral Mass of the Resurrection and All Saints Day – it brought back a flood of memories and emotions. There were several moments throughout that Saturday that I sat with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I was touched by the grandeur of the cathedral, the great organ, the strong processional hymn, the liturgy, the vestments – all the great pageantry, the solemnity, the celebration of a life in the reality of death before the Sacred Mystery, in the presence of God. It was, for me, so deeply moving – and I knew that today I wanted to reflect on all of that because I realized so poignantly what I have missed not having a community of faith with whom to share the unfolding Liturgical Year – not only the unfolding Christian Year as season follows season, but even my week – I cannot remember what day it is whereas I used to be able to click off all the Sunday dates for months to come. The calendar with the seasons; the liturgy with the respective celebrations – They gave structure to life along with familiar celebrations, songs, scripture, symbols and color – all of it creating life’s mosaic with beauty and form. I did so love it and I miss it. The annual celebration of the Christian Year or Church Year came to be the most important calendar for me – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter and the season of Eastertide culminating in the Festival © Grand Valley State University   �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 2   of Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. The secular holidays couldn’t hold a candle to those High Holy Days. The fact that I could be so moved by the Kennedy Funeral Mass and celebration points to a major movement in my life and my religious experience. Like many of you I was raised in the tradition of the Protestant Reformation. Were I preaching today at CCC of old, the Reformation theme probably would have found expression unless we decided to celebrate the previous Sunday so as to keep today for All Saints. It was the Eve of All Saints that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenburg. Halloween was really Hallowe’en –shortened for All Hallows’ Even – the Eve of All Saints' Day –November 1. A web site, History.com, gives a history of the day which originated among the Celtic people in Ireland, Britain and Northern France 2000 years ago; it was their New Year celebration. By A.D. 43 the Romans had conquered those lands and in the course of the 400 years they ruled the Celtic Lands, they introduced two festivals of Roman origin which were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced sowin). Feralia was a day in October which commemorated the passing of the dead and Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees, was the second festival combined with Feralia to celebrate the Celtic New Year Samhain. The current celebration on November 1 probably originates from the time of Pope Gregory III (d. AD 741) and was likely first observed on November 1 in Germany. There is some dispute about the history and earlier connections. As happened so often in the history of the church, a secular or cultural festival was “baptized” and given a Christian significance. The Pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints, All Saints, and All Souls, were called Hallowmas. But, back to how Reformation Day and All Saints’ Day point to a movement in my own religious experience – and because you were with me through this evolution, it has probably changed your religious experience as well. I never really reflected on the significance of the close connection between the celebration of Reformation Day and All Saints’ Day. For me, in my nurture and training, the Reformation marked a turning from the Christian Year, the Liturgical framework, the celebration of the Mass, honoring and praying to saints, the vestments and the whole ambiance of worship space. As one silly example, in my early years of © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 3   ministry I would insist on a central pulpit – not a divided chancel with lectern on one side and pulpit on the other with the Communion table or “altar” central. Protestant Reformed worship was centered in the Word. Some of you may remember the earlier sanctuary, now the parlor, where the pulpit was centered and elevated while the Communion table was on the floor level below the pulpit. Architecture matters! When I returned here in 1971 the sanctuary had been redone. The pulpit was to the congregation’s left, the table raised to the chancel level with a worship center focus with cross and candles. By now you may wonder why I’m making so much of this, but stay with me because I’m attempting to give a graphic picture of what was for us – for me as Pastor, you as people, a major shift in religious understanding and experience. Moving from a strong celebration of Reformation Day to an increasingly significant celebration of All Saints’ Day charts a major movement in our worship life reflecting a major new perspective on the meaning of Christian worship. My experience - which I think I can say was our experience - was movement from the head to the heart. This is not to deny that there was “Heart” in traditional Reformed worship. Nonetheless, the address was to the mind, a rational, if passionate as well, exposition of the Scripture read through the lens of the Theological System. As I reflect back over the years I remember one particular moment when the lights went on for me; it was an “aha moment.” I’m sure it was over 30 years ago. My dear friend, Herman Ridder, had been President of Western Theological Seminary in Holland. Soon after I returned here in 1971, “Bud” as I called him, left the seminary to pastor the Central Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. We established a strong friendship, shared resources, and were in frequent contact. On one occasion he suggested we attend a continuing education event at McCormick Seminary in Chicago, a Presbyterian school. The theme was a fresh look at the Apostle’s Creed. At a Lutheran Seminary in the same complex of schools was a great theologian, Joseph Sittler, who led one of the sessions. I don’t remember what his specific topic was but I shall never forget one of his “throw away lines” – whatever point he was making, he looked at the group and said, “You Presbyterians always go through the head. The Catholic tradition addresses all the senses. There is pageantry, fabric, color, incense, vestments, banners, candles, etc. They approach the whole person, not just the intellect.” Well, it was one of those moments. I said to myself, “Oh, my goodness, he is right!” Nurtured in Reformed theology, the Heidelberg Catechism, the centrality of preaching, I suddenly realized how much the churches of the Reformation were in reaction against the Roman Church from which they separated. Of course, there was need for reform and renewal but, as is true of great institutions, © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 4   they don’t bend easily or recognize the need to change until it’s too late and there is brokenness, alienation and division. So it was in the 16th century. The consequences of the break can be seen nowhere more clearly than in worship. Let me set that forth vividly by contrasting the worship life of the divided Body of Christ. The Roman Church continued with its Christian Year or Church Year, its festivals, its liturgy, its church architecture, symbols and vestments. And, in reaction, the Protestant tradition, in its Reformed expression, “cleansed” itself of all the accoutrements of the worship experience. And in its place? – the preaching of the Catechism. The Heidelberg Catechism stemming from the 16th century (1563) is the most beloved and formative of the catechisms to arise in that era of Reformation. It consisted of 129 questions and answers divided up into 52 Lord’s Days – one for each Sunday of the year. When I was ordained in 1960, the requirement for a minister was to cover the points of doctrine contained in the Catechism once every four years. The Christian Reformed Church required the Catechism be handled annually. Reviewing it again I was struck by the careful delineation of the Christian faith as understood in the wake of the Reformation division of the church – understood by the reformers and set forth in very rational discourse with the precision of careful logic – it was indeed an intellectual document. The first question and answer begins with a warm pastoral note: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” The answer: “That I with body and soul in life and in death am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ….” Then Question 2: “How many things are necessary for you to know that you may live and die happily?” And the answer: “Three things: First, the greatness of my sin and misery; second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and miseries; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such redemption.” There you have the outline of the Catechism. Question one and two comprise the first Lord’s Day. Then follow the three divisions of the catechism – as someone has named them – guilt, grace and gratitude. In the first section our fallenness is set forth. The second part deals with our redemption through the atoning death of Jesus Christ whose death satisfies the demands of God’s justice and also in this section the Apostle’s Creed is explained. Section three sets forth a life of gratitude for salvation through a life of obedience and prayer – the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer being exposited. It is in this section in the treating of the © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 5   second commandment that I was struck by the flash point of the great divide between traditional Catholic worship and the worship of the newly emerged churches of the Reformation. We find a fascinating question and answer concerning the second commandment “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath…” Regarding the second commandment the catechism asks what God requires – the answer: “We may not make any image of God… No images at all? No. But may not pictures be tolerated in churches as books for the laity?” And here is the crux: “No; for we should not be wiser than God, who will not have his people taught by dumb idols, but by the lively preaching of his word.” With the distance of centuries and a pinch of objectivity it is easy to feel the negative tone of such an assertion. The Reformation movement certainly had various facets, but one obvious reaction was against the symbolic drama of the Catholic pageant of salvation as it was played out in the liturgical celebration of the Mass. In stark contrast to the richly symbolic, sensual Eucharistic drama was the church, barren and plain, dominated by a high pulpit from which was proclaimed the Word of God. You may remember my experience which I’ve shared on several occasions. I was in Leiden where I had lived for four years. On a Saturday evening I visited one of the great old cathedral-like Protestant churches, the Hooglandse Kerk. It had recently been renewed in its interior. There was the High Pulpit attached to one of the great columns, folding chairs set up around it, an organ with pipes displayed – the only ornamental, though also functioning element in that vast white-washed space. It was clean and bright and sterile. Then I moved down the street and entered the one Catholic church in Leiden. It was like entering a warm womb – lighting was dim, candles glowed, windows of stained glass, the chancel with the altar the obvious center where the drama of the Mass was enacted. Visiting those two churches in one evening was a striking visual and visceral experience of what Joseph Sittler had pointed to at the seminar at McCormick Seminary – “You Presbyterians (Reformation folk) address the head. The Catholic tradition approaches the whole person through all the senses.” About the time of that seminar, Mr. Bryson came to us as Director of Music and Fine Arts. In the beginning he was also directing the St. Mary’s music program and thus brought with him not only his own artistic sensitivity but the experience of the Catholic liturgy. Fortunately, Joseph Sittler had shocked my consciousness © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 6   about the nature of worship. In response to Sittler I remember as though it were yesterday saying to myself, “Why must one choose between ‘the lively preaching of the Word’ and the rich, sensual, liturgical experience as practiced in the Catholic Church?” From that moment I attempted to combine the best of the Reformation and Catholic worship. The result, in my not unbiased opinion, was a thing of beauty. Oh, there was some grumbling – the sermons were too long, there was too much music… Services so rich in their offerings couldn’t be pulled off in an hour! But for the most part I think we all agreed that we had found a formula for moving corporate worship experience which stimulated the mind and moved the heart. It consisted of intelligent articulation of Christian faith – its claim, its hope, its comfort and its challenge – wrapped in meaningful liturgical movement and artistic expression that created as aesthetic experience that elevated the soul. To return to where I began, it was that movement in my understanding and sensitivity that caused me to watch the funeral celebration of Teddy Kennedy with rapt attention and deep emotion. While I was experiencing the moving of my own being, I was also aware of myself in the experience. I was so deeply aware that my heart dwells in the deep mystery of life, of living before the Sacred Mystery we call God. I was aware of how much I missed the liturgical framework of the Church Year that moved me through the seasons as we celebrated the life of Jesus – life from birth through ministry, passion, death and resurrection and the Spirit’s gathering of that Apostolic church community. A lot going on there, you might say, but it was so and I think I know why that was so. It was because that whole funeral celebration from the entrance to the cathedral to the final committal was for me so rich in memory – memory of such deeply meaningful experience over many years. There were those who said my best preaching was at funerals and I will admit to the rather strange fact that funerals were my favorite time to preach. I think that is because there one is faced with life’s ultimate mystery, death, and I think the impulse to religion is probably fed by the fact that we shall all die. And again in the celebration of the Christian year we are brought face to face with our mortality. Ash Wednesday was one of my favorite services. At Lent’s beginning, we were invited to begin a period of disciplined practice that would lead us to Holy Week – Good Friday and then Easter and the celebration of Resurrection. You came down the aisle and we looked into your eyes and, as we placed on your forehead the ashes in the sign of the cross, we repeated the solemn words from the Genesis story of the fall of the human creature – solemn words of judgment: “Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.” (Genesis 3:19) That’s how the story begins – Creation, the Garden, the test, failure and judgment. It is a story from ancient time stemming from the deep human © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 7   intuition that God is the Creative Source of all that is, that creation is good and yet there is misery. Why? Human hubris? How will the Creator respond? A sentence of death – Dust thou art; to dust thou shalt return. Is there then no hope? Yes, there is for God has called a people to reverse the judgment; finally Grace will prevail. Such a story! And it goes on. From that people God called emerges one, Jesus of Nazareth. Those who encountered him sensed they were in the presence of God. Offensive to established authority, he was crucified. Yet amazingly, those who knew and loved him experienced his presence; He is risen, they cried! Such a story! Such a drama! And in the midst of it all was the urgent human question: Dust and nothing more? The Hebrew sage wondered. The Ecclesiastes writing from his pen articulates his wonderings, his questions. In the wake of Jesus, St. Paul who had a blinding encounter with light and a vision and voice of the risen Jesus thought he knew where he was in the divine drama of creation’s history. He was at the edge; the end was near. Death conquered in Jesus – the first fruits –would soon be universally defeated. Jesus enthroned in Heaven was engaged in a “mopping up” operation. The last enemy to be defeated was death and then all would be handed to God who would be “all in all.” Such a story! Such a drama! There was concrete history here. Jesus was an historical figure. He was crucified. But then all of that was mixed with Israel’s history, the prophetic expectation, the vision and hope of that people. But to separate fact and faith interpretation is quite impossible. It all became a Story – the Story of the emerging Jesus-Jewish movement and eventually of the Gentile Christian Church. The Hebrew writer wondered about what happened to the human spirit. St. Paul “knew,”…If the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” But, of course, he was wrong about history’s time-table. Maybe he was speaking words of faith, of trust, but not words to be taken literally. He was wrong too, I believe, about death being the last enemy. That view stemmed from the old Genesis myth of the “Fall” and, again those solemn words, “…to dust thou shalt return”. But whether he had it right or not isn’t really the point. Rather, he was combining all that his religious tradition had given him, in which his spiritual formation took place, and his own personal experience, and out of all that he created a story. And that story is a drama of life and death, of the source and ground and goal of our existence – issues of meaning, issues of ultimate questions. © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Now go back to the Kennedy funeral – all of that was there – the biblical story – all of it. But it was woven into a tapestry, it was acted out as a drama, it pointed to that dimension of our existence that transcends the earthly, the rational, the empirical realm. And so it touches our depths, plays on our hopes, assuages our grief – offers assurance of Grace in the end. It is claimed by many that our biblical story no longer fits the facts – that is, our present knowledge of our cosmic reality as it is emerging and our understanding growing. Quite true! Not perfection/fall/redemption ending in the Apolcalypse vividly portrayed in the final New Testament writing. Rather an emerging, evolving, expanding cosmic reality whose mysteries are being unlocked more and more. Those who wrestle with these things suggest we need a new story – “a likely story” because it will combine what we know with what we can only wonder about. And that is because finally there is Mystery: Mystery not about to be unraveled, “solved,” but Ultimate Mystery that will, I suspect, remain forever in a “cloud of unknowing.” Come back once more to the two worship traditions – the ongoing Catholic tradition with its story wrapped in incense amidst flickering candles surrounding the body and blood of the Eucharistic sacrifice, and the 16th century emergent catechetical preaching of the Bible in rational discourse developed logically appealing to the intellect. Overdrawn? Perhaps, but also a profound insight into the parting of the ways symbolized by All Saints’ Day and Reformation Day. I have no doubt what I choose. Thank God for that moment of clarity when the difference was pointed out as a difference of appealing to the head or to the whole person. Thank God, recognizing the Bible as story and thus allowing it to come alive in a drama, a pageant, did not mean abandoning the mind. But it did create a setting of sensitive, artistic expression that elevated the soul through aesthetic experience, that opened the mind and warmed the heart, readying the worshiping community to be moved in the depths and discover faith, hope and love in the presence of the Sacred Mystery whose presence was pointed to in song and dance, cross and candle, table and font. Thank God we have shared memories of shared experience of being lost in wonder, love and praise. Yes, we miss it terribly, but we could not miss it had we not had such rich experience of celebrative worship in which head and heart were united in lifting us into the presence of that Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. PRAYER O God, to You we lift our souls, to You we lift our hearts. © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page 9   The Psalmist wrote of the deer panting for streams of living water and saw himself mirrored in that thirst. We, too, thirst for You, O Living God, to know that You are; to sense Your presence; to rest in Your grace. As your people gathered here in this place, we would be still and know that You are God. We bring our thanksgiving in the conscious knowledge that all is grace The order of creation – we reset our clocks and watches to catch a bit more light in the morning, but Brother Sun and Sister Moon are affected not at all; Summer and Winter, Springtime and Harvest in passing parade proclaim Your great faithfulness. You are a God we can count on, keeping this vast cosmos balanced on a razor’s edge, just so, just right. And we breathe; planets move in marvelous symphony; salmon swim upstream; birds migrate to warmer climes; trees, so recently so richly garbed now poke heavenward bony fingers, warning of winter storms gathering, their leafy coats of dazzling color now lying shredded on the ground. And we sense a certain melancholy, a gentle grieving, for once again we are rushing headlong toward the end of another year. Like sand streaming through our fingers is the passing of our lives, and we seem paralyzed, failing to grasp it. Where have the years of our lives gone, O God, where have they gone? And what will become of us? Ah, Dear God, Creator, Lover of this world © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem in all the wonder of its diversity, there is no shadow of turning in You. You, the eternal God, from Whom we have life, to Whom our life returns, in You we trust, in You we rest. All is grace. We give You thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord. For these moments, let us quiet our minds, letting go of concerns that burden us, regrets that cripple us, fears that paralyze us, whatever is troubling us. Let us image that which causes gratitude to rise in us – the gift and grace of life; the sources of our joy; those persons who make life rich. Let us call to mind those images which have shaped us – the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Since God is for us, who can be against us? neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. All will be well, all will be well, All manner of things will be well. O God, those words rise from our depths so naturally. O God it seems that, in moments like these when we purposefully, intentionally turn to you when we turn to whomever or whatever you are, we do so almost with a sigh, O God, © Grand Valley State University Page10   �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page11   for we know we are now in the zone of Mystery. There was something about Jesus when he prayed that caused the disciples to plead, Lord, teach us to pray. we plead, as well, O, God, teach us to pray. Once, perhaps, we came as suppliants to the Royal Throne of the Universe with requests we must admit on reflection were very self-centered, reflecting a very small universe in which our hopes and fears loomed very large. And still there are moments when we flee into your presence totally occupied with our own concerns – something that threatens us, or some experience that crushes us, or some potential happening that involves us in a loss we fear would undo us. And sometimes it is sheer joy, ecstasy, exhilaration that bursts forth in a torrent of praise, shutting out everything else for the moment. But, more and more, we look not out there, but somehow within, into our own depths, sensing we are connected deep down, rooted in Being itself, you being the inexhaustible Source and Ground of all that exists – the good earth, the starry heavens, the oceans’ tides And ourselves, conscious, aware, groping for some clue by which to know you, to rest in you, no longer strangers, but at home in the universe, at one with all that is. Sacred Mystery of Being, of our lives, it is so good, so familiar for us gathered here to be gathered consciously in Your presence. Such rich memories we share of days gone by. O God, how grateful we are for all we have shared, for all we have experienced together – grateful for friendship, for mutual trust, mutual caring, support and love. On this All Saints’ Day we remember those we’ve loved and lost awhile. We are grateful, O God, for the confidence with which we live and die, © Grand Valley State University �Symbol and Ritual Richard A. Rhem Page12   that to live is to live unto the Lord and to die is to die unto the Lord and therefore whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. We are grateful, O great Mystery of life, that we have been graced with a fundamental trust that this cosmic dance into which our lives are woven is not a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, but a universe whose grain is love, whose end is life and light, a cosmos exploding before our eyes with marvels our forbears would not believe and we can hardly begin to comprehend. O God Our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Grant us joy and peace as in You we live and move and have our being, confident we will never walk alone. Amen © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Sunday Social Gathering, All Saints Day Series Symbol and Ritual Scripture Text Ecclesiastes 3:1-23, II Cor. 4:16-5, 5:1, I Cor. 15:20 Location The location of the interview Grand Haven Community Center 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-0-20091101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-11-01 Title A name given to the resource Healing the Heart as We Say Goodbye in the Presence of Mystery Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 1, 2009 entitled "Healing the Heart as We Say Goodbye in the Presence of Mystery", as part of the series "Symbol and Ritual", on the occasion of Sunday Social Gathering, All Saints Day, at Grand Haven Community Center. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3:1-23, II Cor. 4:16-5, 5:1, I Cor. 15:20. 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c78751a73b554c1b04fb9398099fecb7.pdf 94277ccdd1ebfac0bc158072333d9983 PDF Text Text Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities and a Rumor of Angels Luke 2: 1-14; Micah 5: 2-5a Richard A. Rhem Spring Lake Country Club Spring Lake, Michigan Advent, December 20, 2009 Merry Christmas! It seems so natural to see you gathered before me with all the trimmings of the season, all the beautiful music, the evident warmth and joy of being with folks with whom there is such marvelous shared history and experience. Quite wonderful indeed! For me, preparing for such an event has its own familiar feel. I never fit the old preacher stereotype of moving every five or six years and turning over the sermon barrel. Remaining in one place has meant revisiting again and again the same high holy days, the same seasons of the Christian year and needing to find something fresh to say. I have operated all these years on the theory that a sermon was meant for a concrete community at a particular moment in their life and the historical context of that moment. Over the years people would say, “You should publish your sermons” or “Christ Community should go on television.” I was never tempted. It has always been my passion to form and shape, live with and experience life in one particular community – the community of which we were a part during those three and a half decades of our life together. Forgive an old man for a bit of nostalgia but, preparing for this worship experience, now that I’m retired gives me the luxury of going back and reviewing how the respective Festival Days were celebrated and it is those high points in the Christian year that provide a collage of the celebrations over all those years. I have enjoyed going back to file upon file – liturgies, prayers, sermons – to detect my own evolving understanding and the movement toward a full and rich liturgical worship experience which, together, we created. One interesting dimension of such a review is to determine what was happening in my own grasp and experience of “The Story” as it brought to expression the events of Jesus – birth, ministry, passion and death, resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. We can all tell the stories – Christmas, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost – and the stories are rooted in a concrete historical life. Yet the story is woven of legend and myth, magic and miracle. How does one who lives in a PostEnlightenment world marked by critical thinking find the meaning of the Story woven in myth and miracle? © Grand Valley State University   �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   That was a question we addressed years ago. You addressed it because I had to address it. I was nurtured and educated in a religious setting where the Story was taken literally – angels, stars, kings from the East, the manger, and shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. It took me years to understand the nature of story, of sign and symbol and many of you went on the journey with me. I smiled as I took up a sermon of 12-28-97. The title tells a lot – “The Fairy Tale is True.” Obviously by that time – actually years earlier – I had been freed from a deadening biblical literalism. But we did not all emerge into that heady freedom at the same time. And what made me smile was a sentence in the sermon which told why I was reflecting on the theme – “because of a few conversations I’ve had with some of you who have wondered how to receive the Christmas story – a story that begins, “And it came to pass…” and is laced with angelic announcements accompanied by a heavenly choir, magi from the East following a brilliant star that comes to rest over a stable wherein lies a newborn child born to a virgin.” I know exactly what was going on at Christmas, 1997; some of my people were struggling to hear the Story in a new way, fearing they would lose the heart warming sacred truth with which it was associated in their experience. We have all been there I think. Some emerge from the literalism of scriptural story more easily than others but that move to critical understanding is both necessary and a bit frightening. As I go back over the years I find it fascinating to be reminded of the sacred journey we have been on. If returning year after year to the same sacred celebrations brought its challenge to say something both significant and fresh, that possibility was aided by the fact that, although it was always the same Christmas or the same Easter, the moment of return was always in a new historical context. Current events often gave a contemporary relevance to the celebration. To cite just one example, on December 21, 1980, my sermon was “And It Came To Pass.” Those words traditionally introduce a story, perhaps one of our favorite traditional fairy tales. When you hear “And it came to pass,” you sit back and expect to hear a story. Already in 1980 I was suggesting that the Christmas story as told by St. Luke was such a story, introduced as it is in the King James Version with those words, “And it came to pass in those days…”. But something happened two weeks earlier – December 8, 1980 – John Lennon was shot dead as he was about to enter The Dakota, the building in which he lived, in New York City. And the Sunday a week before I preached the sermon on December 21, millions of people around the world gathered to mourn John Lennon and observe ten minutes of silence at the request of Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono. Over 100,000 gathered in Central Park. And what has all that to do with Christmas? Well, this was the young poet-singer who spoke and sang of peace © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   and love, who taught a whole generation to sing “Give Peace a Chance” which was heard that day at the Lincoln Memorial. This was the poet-singer who penned the lines we received on a Christmas card and have been shared with you before: Imagine By John Lennon Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try. No hell below us, Above us only sky. Imagine all the people Living for today… Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too. Imagine all the people Living life in peace… Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people Sharing all the world… You may say I’m a dreamer, But I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one. The tremendous outpouring of grief for John Lennon made me wonder at Christmas, 1980, why my message of the Prince of Peace seemed so ineffectual. Even more, it caused me to become aware of a deep human longing if only it could be tapped into. In that sermon I wrote: Could it be that within the human heart there is a huge void and emptiness that cries out to be filled with love, to be touched by grace? Thus, a current event shaped my experience and my preaching of the Christmas gospel in 1980 and, I would add, impacted my whole understanding of the human situation to which the Gospel was addressed. © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   And so, looking back over the years of our shared experience of Christmas, I came to a renewed awareness of how together we negotiated that passage from biblical literalism to a critical understanding of the Bible as the storybook of an ancient people in which were embedded the eternal questions of the human heart, and, secondly, how contemporary historical experience brings out ever fresh dimensions of the story. Over many Christmases past I entitled sermons in such a way that the nature of the Christmas Gospel as I understood it was reflected. For example, “The Fairy Tale Is True”, “Love Talk”, “A Rumor of Angels”, and “It Came To Pass…”. It is a beautiful story, as I indicated above, woven with miracle and myth, laced with legend and illumined by starlight, narrated by angels to fearful shepherds. And what we had come to see over many years was that the profound meaning embroidered with all the marks of story was the deepest truth of our human existence. The meaning that comes to expression in the Christmas Gospel is that the whole cosmic drama reflects a bias for life and the grain of the universe is Love. One Advent series leading up to the Christmas celebration was entitled “God in the Mirror of Christmas.” I remember that series as a breakthrough for me. No new discoveries about the Story as such; it was just that what our biblical tradition was saying about the nature of God struck me so powerfully – a child as the expression of God, God set forth in the vulnerability of a child, God revealed in a human face. And when we speak of God we are using a symbol for what is ultimate. Paul Tillich’s famous phrase – “The Ground of Being”– captures, to some degree, that to which we are pointing. The more we learn about this evolving cosmos and emerging reality the more we realize it is a whole continuing to come to ever fuller expression and we are the conscious products of that process, bringing to it awareness. So could we speak of God as the Generating Creative Center? Then the Christmas Gospel would be saying that at its Creative, Generative Center there is a bias for life, the vulnerability of love, the heart of compassion. That is an attempt to say something about the nature of reality. There is no scientific proof. We are speaking of a fundamental trust, a profound hope, a daring declaration concerning the nature of the cosmic process. No proof possible. Yet there is evidence everywhere that love and trust and compassion are the ingredients of a wonderful world where life flourishes and joy abounds. And the contrary is also easily documented: hate, mistrust and heartlessness drain the joy, destroy the peace and create fear and insecurity in the human heart. So this is where I come out from my nostalgic journey to Christmases past: We moved from biblical literalism in which we strained to document whether there was a decree sent out by Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was Governor of © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Syria and whether there was actually some astronomical phenomenon that might have been the Star in the East and soon, to an appreciation of the genre of Story in which the miracle and myth beautifully expressed become the vehicle for the declaration of a profound understanding of cosmic reality and human wellbeing – a vision of the nature deep down in things and the secret of human flourishing in the presence of the sacred mystery who is the creative generating source of being. Further, we realize how, although every Christmas celebration is the same in its story and manner of expression – carols and trimmings, parties and pageants – what is happening in the world brings out fresh nuances of the Story. It is to this historical moment in our nation’s history that I now turn. I entitled my meditation “Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities and a Rumor of Angels.” Let me move to the Tale of Two Cities – not Paris and London as in Charles Dickens’ famous novel but rather two cities that played a key role in the Christmas story – Rome and Bethlehem. I suspect you know me well enough to have a sense of what I want to say about those two cities that would address our contemporary situation in our nation and in the world this Christmas. Rome, of course, was the seat of the Roman Empire – the greatest ruling empire the world had ever known and still one of the greatest ever. I need not go into a thorough review of the greatness and the grandeur that was Rome. We are familiar with that history in its many dimensions – Roman law, Roman roads, Roman legions that pacified that ancient world at the time of Jesus’ birth. Luke uses the decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered to bring Joseph and the very pregnant Mary to Bethlehem in Judea from their home in Nazareth, so that the birth of Jesus would be in Bethlehem, the City of David, thus fulfilling the prophetic promise. The registration reflected good Roman government – registration creating the order on which Roman rule was exercised and taxes collected. I remember in college or seminary being referred to a book by David R. Breed, The Preparation of the World for Christ (1918), which moves through the history of Israel, Greek civilization and to the Roman unification of the world – Israel’s hope, Greek language, Roman roads over which traveled Roman legions effecting the Pax Romana – The Roman Peace. Breed’s point, of course, was that the development of the ancient world in its various stages was God’s providential preparation of the world for the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, whose gospel would be proclaimed by St. Paul traveling those Roman roads to the far-flung territories of the Empire. What was missing in this treatise was any acknowledgment that the Roman legions were the empire’s agent of power, of military might by which the ancient world was subdued by Imperial Rome. The Pax Romana was an enforced peace on subject peoples. In the case of Rome and I believe every world empire, military might was the requisite. © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 6   This is not to say that there was not positive virtue in Imperial Rome and, indeed, a desire for peace in that ancient world. In his great work, On Being a Christian (1974, English translation 1976), Hans Küng juxtaposes the peace of Rome and the peace Jesus incarnated: In the year 42 or 41 before Jesus’ birth, at the beginning of the fifteen years of grievous civil war following the murder of Julius Caesar, the Roman poet Virgil in his famous Fourth Ecologue announced the birth of a world saviour. Was this an expression of hope in Caesar’s great nephew and adopted son Octavius and his house? In any case, when Octavius finally returned to Rome in the year 29, as sole ruler, after the victory over Anthony and Cleopatra, his first official act was to close the temple of Janus, the double-faced god of war. And “Augustus Divi Filius”– “Son of the divine one” (Of Caesar elevated after his death to be a state god), translated in the Greek East as “Son of God” – did everything possible to realize the hopes nourished by Virgil of The Utopia of an imminent reign of peace: Pax Romana, Pax Augusta, sealed with the consecration of the gigantic Ara Pacis Augustae, the Augustan altar of peace, in the year 9 B.C. In the same year (according to the famous inscription found in Priene in Asia Minor and later elsewhere) the “gospel” (euangelion, “good news”) of the birthday of the “Saviour” and “God” who had now appeared – Caesar Augustus – was proclaimed in the East to the whole world: the saviour who had brought to the broken world new life, happiness, peace, fulfillment of ancestral hopes, salvation. (p. 438) There is no need to write off the noble aspirations of Caesar Augustus and his contemporaries. Has there not always been a dream of peace and wellbeing in the human heart, a longing for safety and security? Nonetheless, the peace Augustus desired and Rome for a long period of history provided is a different peace than that to which the way of Jesus leads. Küng is clear. It is in fact obvious that even the apparently idyllic Christmas story has very real social-critical (and, in the broadest sense, political) implications and consequences. This is a peace opposed to the political savior and the political theology of the Imperium Romanum which provided ideological support for the imperial peace policy: it is a true peace which cannot be expected where divine honors are paid to a human being and an autocrat… We need only compare Luke’s Christmas Gospel with the Gospel already mentioned of Augustus at Priene to see how the roles here are exchanged. The end of wars, worthwhile life, common happiness in a word, complete well-being, man’s “salvation” and the world’s – are expected no longer from the overpowerful Roman Caesars but from this powerless, harmless child. (p. 452f) © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Obviously, I use Rome and Bethlehem as symbols of two contrasting kinds of peace, of two contrasting visions of the nature of a peaceful world – the one represented by the Roman Emperor however noble, however much desiring peace in the world, and Jesus or the Way of Jesus bringing peace of quite another kind. On Christmas Eve, 1994, I used the same texts as this evening – Micah 5:5, “…and he shall be the one of peace” and Luke 2:15, “…and on earth peace.” I cite the 1994 Christmas Eve meditation because I had pointed to the difference between the peace of empire and the peace of Jesus and made reference to what was happening on the global scene – the Balkan tragedy, the, at that time, fragile, relative peace in Bosnia after all the bloodshed. I went on to say, Luke was writing of the birth of One, from the other end of the story, because, remember, Luke wrote the birth after the death. Luke wrote of the birth after the resurrection. Luke knew the hell that Jesus had gone through, but Luke’s gospel of Jesus, which speaks of peace in the beginning, is a peace that was a peace to be secured only in the Way of Jesus. It was the Way of Jesus, as opposed to the way of Rome. It was a peace that was based on the end of all human domination. That, Luke was telling us in his gospel, was the peace that came through Jesus Christ. It was not the peace enforced by the power of Rome, but the peace that comes from God, to those who follow the Way of Jesus. I referred to the then current conflict, the human suffering, the terrible violence and killing and related the experience of a few of us who had toured Europe that fall and visited the Normandy beaches and the D-Day museum at Caen, France, where a film graphically depicted the terror of D-Day fifty years before. The day we visited the Beaches it was beautiful, so calm and peaceful. One could hardly imagine the horror of 1944. I said, A couple of months ago I visited the shores of Normandy, the fiftieth anniversary of the scarred earth where that horrendous battle was fought. A week ago, perhaps some of you saw as well the special by David Brinkley on the Battle of the Bulge, fifty years ago. Did you hear in that special a recording of the voice of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said fifty years ago at Christmas, “It is not easy to wish the nation a Merry Christmas this year, nor to those who are standing for us around the world.” It was a world at war, and a terrible price was exacted. There are those that suggest that maybe the past fifty years were better. But were they? Just five years ago we were so euphoric at this time of year because the Berlin wall had fallen and we thought that maybe the world was taking a significant step toward peace. The collapsing of an impasse of terror that held the world at bay for fifty years evaporating, allowed these ancient feuds to surge forth again. So in 1994 at Christmas we speak of the peace of Jesus. But there is no peace. You see, we think of peace in terms of the © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 8   balance of power and of political possibilities, but there is only one way to peace – it is the way of human community. It is by the ending of all human domination. I have pointed out in this meditation that each returning Christmas, while replete with all the accoutrements that we so much love, nevertheless has its own special and unique aspect determined by what was happening in the world at that time. This meditation takes its cue not from some global happening at present but rather from my own personal experience of reflection on the gospel of peace and the history of our own nation in the century past to the present time. This is not something new. As I have indicated, it has been my practice over the decades of ministry at Christ Community to relate the gospel to world happenings. But recently reading a book authored by James Carroll entitled House of War has made a deep impact on me. The subtitle is “The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power.” James Carroll is the author of Constantine’s Sword, a history of the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish people and I used it for a Wednesday evening class a few years ago. It is an excellent historical study. House of War even exceeds Constantine’s Sword in my opinion. I have seldom been more engrossed in a book or more impacted. I suspect that is because Carroll narrates the history through which I’ve lived – events I remember from the time, people in government and on the world scene with whom I am familiar, crisis points, breakthroughs that were celebrated. He is eight years younger than I am but what he recounts really begins with World War II and continues to the first years of George W. Bush’s administration, which means to 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq. Carroll’s review of that history has a unique perspective in that his father was a FBI agent working for J. Edgar Hoover, and then was appointed to be the first Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, made an Army General and located in the Pentagon. The Carrolls were a strong Irish Catholic family and James, growing up in the shadow of the Pentagon, decided to enter the Roman Catholic priesthood, which delighted his father. It was during his seminary years that the popular revolt against the Vietnam War arose. He identified with that protest, being greatly influenced by the Catholic protest movement led by the Berrigan brothers. Carroll’s identification with the anti-war movement led to a serious break with his Brigadier General father, recounted in an earlier book, An American Requiem: God, My Father and the War That Came Between Us. I cannot here do more than attempt to identify what so deeply impacted me reading House of War. As the history of the past six decades was recounted, I came to see how we have come to our present state of global empire. Earlier I spoke of a certain idealism and hope for peace that marked the Roman Empire. © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page 9   In the case of our own nation, that is certainly true as well. There have always been generations of good and decent persons leading our nation, genuinely wanting peace. And it is true as well, as our President said in his Oslo speech as he received the Nobel Peace Prize, America has carried the heavy burden of liberating people and ensuring peace in the world. But that is only one side of the story. And this is where James Carroll’s documentation of the disastrous rise of American power is so powerful, illuminating and distressing. Through historical circumstances we evolved into a powerful nation with a military that has become the shaping force of American policy. We are a military state upon which depend our economy, our industry, even our great research universities. Let me refer to just two critical moments in the history through which we have lived. The first moment was what to do with the newly discovered nuclear power. Secretary of War Henry Stimson wrote a memorandum to President Truman. Carroll writes: It was another of those events dated September 11, each one the center of a world in collision with other worlds. The impact of such collisions is our subject. On September 11, 1945, four years to the day after the groundbreaking of the Pentagon, fifty-six years to the day before the Al Qaeda attack on the Pentagon, less than a month after Japan’s surrender, and just over a month after the detonation of the Nagasaki bomb, Stimson composed an urgent “Memorandum for the President,” which began, “Subject: Proposed Action for Control of Atomic Bombs.” First Stimson told the president what the dawning of the nuclear age meant: If the atomic bomb were merely another though more devastating military weapon to be assimilated into our pattern of international relations, it would be one thing. We could then follow the old custom of secrecy and nationalistic military superiority relying on international caution to prescribe [sic] future use of the weapon as we did with gas. But I think the bomb instead constitutes merely a first step in a new control by man over the forces of nature too revolutionary and dangerous to fit into the old concepts. I think it really caps the climax of the race between man’s growing technical power for destructiveness and his psychological power of self-control and group-control – his moral power. If so, our method of approach to the Russians is a question of the most vital importance in the evolution of human progress… The crux of the problem is Russia. Carroll comments further: “To put the matter concisely,” Stimson wrote, he proposed that the United States take immediate steps to “enter into an arrangement with the © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page10   Russians, the general purpose of which would be to control and limit the use of the atomic bomb.” He suggested that by bringing the Soviets into our confidence, they would have reason to believe it when Americans said that “we would stop work on any further improvement in, or manufacture of, the bomb as a military weapon, provided the Russians and the British would do likewise.” This meant, and Stimson proposed it, that Washington would “impound what bombs we now have in the United States provided the Russians and the British would agree with us that in no event will they or we use a bomb as an instrument of war unless all three governments agree to that use.” Give up the secret. Give up the monopoly. Give up sovereignty over use. Give up control of existing bombs. Stimson, in the cover letter that accompanied this memo, summed up his proposal by using the word “share” twice. (p. 113 f) Carroll relates how Stimson’s grasp of the situation with Russia in light of the atomic bomb was countered by Secretary of State James Byrnes. Carroll’s account is so fascinating because he gives us a glimpse behind the scenes from the perspective of history as to the tensions and arguments that raged at the time. Writing of Stimson, Carroll relates, So now he warned that relations with Moscow “may be perhaps irretrievably embittered by the way in which we approach the solution of the bomb with Russia. For if we fail to approach them now and merely continue to negotiate with them, having this weapon rather ostentatiously on our hip, their suspicion and their distrust of our purposes and motives will increase.” This reference to the atomic bomb “ostentatiously on our hip” is a tip off that this memo was essentially an argument against fiercely anti-Soviet positions then being taken by Secretary of State Byrnes, who had already proven to be something of a nemesis. Stimson had, the week before, criticized the way Byrnes was preparing for an upcoming meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in London: “Byrnes [is] very much against any attempt to cooperate with Stalin. His mind is full of the problems with the coming meeting of the foreign ministers and he looks to having the presence of the bomb in his pocket, so to speak, as a great weapon to get through the thing he has.” Very much against Byrnes, in one of the most remarkable statements ever made by an American statesman, Stimson presumed to assert in his September 11 letter to Truman, “The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way you can make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show him your distrust. I conclude the first critical moment by underscoring these last lines – the matter of trust. Trust or fear leading to mistrust; fear that often blooms into paranoia and a world community market by paranoia is a dangerous place. © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page11   Do you sense that the whole disastrous tragedy of the Cold War could have been avoided? Do you sense that at that critical moment in the history of the twentieth century trust could have changed the impasse of terror through which we lived on the brink of disaster? One more critical moment – the breaking down of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. We remember it well – the euphoria, the relief, the high hopes for a world at peace. From James Carroll filling in the background of the Reagan/Gorbachev encounters. I was struck by the stature of the Russian leader. It was he, not Mr. Reagan that created the possibility and effected the reality of the end of the Cold War. But this I point to because for the United States it was another missed opportunity – a missed opportunity to disarm the nuclear weapons that both sides stockpiled because of that earlier missed opportunity when we could have averted that arms race before it began. Russia wanted to disarm; we did not. Why trouble you with this history and the rise of American power at Christmas? Simply because it is Rome and Bethlehem all over again. I have been critical of American imperial designs for some time, especially since the rise to power and prominence of the neo-conservative movement that advocated the unipolar world, the United States, the one world superpower doing whatever was necessary to maintain its preeminence. But I’ve never seen before so clearly the creeping militarism that has led to our present state. It is Rome all over again; the peace ensured by force of arms. Multitudes of good people, well-meaning people become captives of the drive towards empire maintaining “peace” by “military might.” That to which I point involves such a complex of philosophical, political reasoning and argument. I suspect we could get into a good free-for-all if I allowed an open mike; but I am not interested in argument or debate. I am not interested in scoring points or winning an argument. I have the privilege by your good grace of bearing witness in the beauty of this Christmas season to my deepest intuition, my highest aspiration. It is this: peace on earth will not be finally accomplished by political strategy or military power. Peace on earth will come only in the Way of Jesus, a way of non-violence – not pacifism, a passive response to one’s world – but non-violent resistance to evil and darkness, and positive offering of trust, of grace, of love, of compassion, of being willing to die rather than be untrue to those virtues. The vulnerability of a child as a mirror of the heart of God – a child in obscure Bethlehem a sign of a Love which Imperial Rome and the great Caesar Augustus could never vanquish. Only such love incarnate in earth’s multitude holds the possibility of Peace on Earth – indeed of a human future. © Grand Valley State University �Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities… Richard A. Rhem Page12   Will I have another Christmas in which to bear my witness? Perhaps not. Let then this be my last witness and plea: the Way of Jesus is the only way to peace, freedom from fear, freedom to live in love and grace. References: James Carroll. House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. Houghton Miflin Harcourt, 2006. Hans Küng. On Being a Christian. Published in 1974; English translation, 1976. © 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 Scripture Text Luke 2:1-14, Micah 5:2-5a Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club References James Carroll. House of War, 2006. Hans K 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-0-20091220 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-12-20 Title A name given to the resource Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities and a Rumor of Angels 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 December 20, 2009 entitled "Love Talk: A Tale of Two Cities and a Rumor of Angels", on the occasion of Advent, at Spring Lake Country Club. Scripture references: Luke 2:1-14, Micah 5:2-5a. 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c81ebf04d3d22a61d91880716717372d.pdf 5efa757c01cd5b9180309e5cfe331efa PDF Text Text A Palm Sunday Peace Parade And a Personal Pilgrimage Luke 19:41-44; 23:32-34, 46 Richard A. Rhem Unity Church on the Lakeshore Douglas, Michigan Palm Sunday, March 28, 2010 Prepared Text of Sermon It was last fall when I received a call from Jan Weren inviting me to preach here at Unity Church on the Lakeshore. She was lining up Sunday speakers for the first quarter of 2010 and, having just begun, I had the whole period from which to choose a Sunday. I chose the last Sunday of the quarter, not to put it off as far as possible but, rather, because I saw that March 28, today, was Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is my favorite Sunday to preach. I’ve come to recognize that in retrospect – one of the luxuries of retirement, which for me was June, 2004, is that one can reflect on the way one has come. I have been aware of my being gripped year after year by the Palm Sunday arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. Luke narrates much of his story of Jesus as a journey to Jerusalem. In 9:51 we read that Jesus set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. And it is particularly Luke’s account that moves me. Matthew, following Mark, makes it the triumphal entry of the king with tinges of nationalism which would be perceived as a threat to peace and order – and indeed there were many who would have loved it to be so. But Luke and John are clear – this is no display of nationalistic fervor – this is a Peace Parade. Not a war-horse but a donkey, an animal bespeaking humility. Not a military band but the voices of children. And Luke’s portrayal of Jesus on the crest of the Mount of Olives, surveying the city and weeping, moves me greatly. Luke’s portrait of Jesus was written over a half century after the events. By the time he wrote, the Temple at Jerusalem was an ash heap and the city no longer the center of Jewish faith nor of the Jewish Jesus movement. Thus, the words he puts in Jesus’ mouth as he overlooks the city from the Mount of Olives are not prediction but description of the actual situation when Luke wrote. But the core of Luke’s story, as well as that of the other Gospels, is most certainly true; Jesus came to Jerusalem. In the Synoptics he came only once; in John, three times. In any case, Luke, after the birth narratives, the Galilean ministry, puts Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (9:51). The crisis will build until it spills over in his tears; he weeps for the City. He needed not to be a predictor of © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 2 future events; any sensitive, insightful person might have known catastrophe was around the corner. In spite of his sense of the inevitable disaster, he entered the City and went to the heart of the religious, spiritual life of his people – the Temple. His coming was peaceful. Luke and John present it as such, using the images found in Zechariah 9:9-10 of humility, peacefulness, non-apocalyptic, nonpolitical. Jesus acted out symbolically his non-violent protest – he negated the Temple and all it stood for. It had become a den of thieves. The politics of domination and the economics of injustice were all tied up with the Temple as symbolic center, and Jesus’ symbolic action was the climax of his non-violent protest in the name of the God of justice. It was a dangerous, subversive action, for it called in question the legitimacy of the whole structural, religious, political, economic life of the Jewish nation under Roman imperial domination. For this action he was executed as a threat to the safety of the State. So, there Jesus is on the crest of Olivet overlooking the city – weeping, “O Jerusalem, if only you were able to recognize the things that make for peace … but they are hid from your eyes. Devastation approaches, for your violence in response to Roman violence will bring on greater violence and you will finally be destroyed, the Temple a charred ruin.” Going back over the last two decades of my ministry I discovered I had preached seventeen times on Palm Sunday and on seven of those seventeen I had used the passage from Luke. And even more significant for me, two of those seven were pivotal moments in my own understanding of Jesus, of the way of Jesus – indeed, of Christian faith itself. Two past Palm Sundays represent moments of epiphany, or perhaps more accurately, having experienced epiphanic moments as I wrestled with the message, I made, for me, fresh expression of the Gospel. It was Palm Sunday, April 15, 1984, that I preached on the subject, “Jesus, You Are Really Something!” I remember it well; it was a moment of discovery. While studying in The Netherlands in the late 1960’s I had purchased Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison. In the days of heavy theological reading, Bonhoeffer’s little volume sustained me spiritually as he recorded his prison experience, which was the consequence of being a part of a group that sought to assassinate Hitler. Hitler ordered Bonhoeffer’s death in May, 1945, as the U.S. forces were closing in on the prison camp in southern Germany. On Palm Sunday, 1984, I confessed to my people a discovery – that the life of Bonhoeffer moved me more than the life of Jesus. This is what I said then: Jesus has no doubt been the greatest inspirer of human faith and life in the whole of human history. I have been reflecting on why his life has not been © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 3 more powerful for me. I think I understand why Bonhoeffer moved me more – or so it seems. I think it is because Bonhoeffer was of our time. He seems more human – more one of us. He took on Hitler – not the Jewish High Priest or the Roman Emperor. He was a man – just a man. But Jesus was something else. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the Church in her theological discussion has removed Jesus – the real, historical, human figure – from me. Yet the more I penetrate through the theological haze surrounding him, the more I see him for what he was, the more overwhelmed I am at the grandeur of his life, the more I am moved by his faith and commitment, the more I love him and want to be like him. It is a paradox; the more I see him in his full humanity, the more I am inclined to bow in worship before him…. Of course we cannot get back into the skin of those first Palm Sunday pilgrims. We cannot divest ourselves of centuries of theological discussion and church doctrine. Yet sometimes someone catches a glimmer of what it might have been like. For example, in the rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, which some Christians picketed and of which many more disapproved, I personally think I see something of the power and the impact of that truly human existence. Mary Magdalene’s solo has always struck me – even moved me. Listen to the words: I don’t know how to love him, what to do – how to move him. I’ve been changed – yes, really changed in these past few days When I have seen myself. I seem like someone else. I don’t know how to take this. I don’t see why he moves me. He’s a man. He’s just a man. I’ve had so many men before in many ways, he’s just one more. Should I bring him down? Should I scream and shout? Should I speak of love, let my feelings out? I never thought I’d come to this. What’s it all about? Don’t you think it’s rather funny I should be in this position? I’m the one who has always been so calm, so cool, no lover’s fool… He scares me so. I never thought I’d come to this. What’s it all about? Yet, if he said he loved me, I’d be lost, I’d be frightened. I couldn’t cope, I just couldn’t cope. I’d turn my head, I’d back away. I wouldn’t want to know. He scares me so. I want him so. I love him so. Whether true to the real feelings of Mary Magdalene or not, something of the confusion, the adoration and yet the drawing back in wonder must have been true of Jesus’ contemporaries. To meet him was to be changed by him. His power was not the power of coercion, but the power of grace; © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 4 not the overwhelming of pomp, but the weight of truth, of authenticity, of humility; it was the power of a person in whom God became transparent. That was Palm Sunday, 1984. Something very deep was going on in my being – Jesus, the human being, and the way of Jesus as the way of non-violent resistance, the way of peace was gripping me. I knew well enough the history of those early centuries of the Christian era. I knew of the intertwining of the Constantinean establishment of the Church, emperors calling church councils, and elevation of the man Jesus to the supernatural status of Son of God, second member of the Trinity. Jesus’ humanity was never denied. Indeed, in 451 C.E., the concise formula was rendered – Jesus, true God and true man. But I think my experience was not rare – the human Jesus got swallowed up by the Divine being. But for me, the man Jesus was emerging as the one I wanted to follow and in the ensuing decade became the one who more and more found expression in my preaching. The second significant pivot point in my own understanding of Christian faith came to expression on Palm Sunday, 1993. Again from Luke 19, my sermon title was “Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Our Sins.” This was a radical move because in making that claim, I was really denying the whole structure of atonement theology. In fact, I stood it on its head. I was beginning to see Jesus in the great tradition of Israel’s prophets and thus his concern for the very real historical context of his life – Roman imperial domination with establishment Judaism’s collaboration, oppressing the poor on the one hand and the revolutionary elements, the Zealots, plotting insurrection against Rome on the other. Jesus spoke truth to power. The common people heard him gladly. The authorities of religion and politics saw him as a threat to order – one that needed to be silenced. On that Palm Sunday, 1994, I said, Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Was not his point that there is only one way to deal with that which is so endemic to the human situation that spews violence and spawns response in violence? That is the way of sacrificial love – turning the other cheek; loving the enemy; embracing the one who despitefully uses me. Of course, you can’t run a world that way. But my point is, you see, God’s problem is not that God cannot forgive me. God’s problem is that God doesn’t seem to be able to change me. Jesus didn’t die so that I could have the sentence removed and I could have a passport to heaven. I mean, wouldn’t that be wonderful! I could say, “Yes, I believe. I’ll take that ticket. Thank you very much,” and remain unchanged. We have this neat theological system of Christian doctrine where the problem is our sin and the solution is Jesus’ death. Sin is removed, guilt is removed, and there is openness to God. Yet the world continues to be on the brink of exploding because in the human heart there is never any significant transformation. Not in my heart. And not in the hearts of the Muslim fanatics, and the Jewish © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 5 Orthodox, and the Christian fundamentalists. The problem is not that God can’t forgive my sin. The problem is God can’t break through to me. But, don’t you see, the word repentance comes from the Greek word metanoia, which means to change one’s thinking? The problem with the world is not that God can’t forgive the world of sin. The problem is that the world’s thinking will not change. We egg each other on, and we escalate the violence. We raise the stakes and nothing changes! The die was cast; my focus had moved from Jesus as the Divine Interloper who came to be a sacrifice for the sin of the world to Jesus, the fully human being who came to challenge the human structures of domination, political, religious, social – the Jesus whose non-violent resistance spoke truth to power. One Lenten season I taught my people a mantra which occasionally is repeated to me: He died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. In the last decade of my ministry it was issues of social justice and peace that occupied me. Happenings in the nation, the political scene and international relations became the arenas in which I applied the way of Jesus as I understood it. I was greatly energized but, to be honest, I have often despaired, because it seems violence, conflict and war are ever present. And, to be honest, I have despaired of the imperial designs of our own nation. There is a recent book by the journalist James Carroll whose title says it all – The House of War – the Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. It is a history of the last seven decades, the history, thus,from the Second World War to the present. Generations of good and decent persons have led our nation, genuinely wanting peace, and we have carried a heavy burden of liberating people and ensuring peace. But that is only one side of the story. James Carroll documents the disastrous rise of American power. Through historical circumstances we have evolved into a powerful nation with a military that has become the shaping force of American policy. We are a military state upon which depends our economy, our industry, even our great research universities. In Carroll’s telling of the history through which I’ve lived, it is clear that, had our leaders the mind of Jesus, there would have been no Cold War with Russia and again, had the Way of Jesus informed our leadership following the end of the Cold War, there would be no problem of nuclear proliferation today. Thank God our nation and Russia have just agreed on a significant reduction of nuclear arms. But they could have been banished at the Cold War’s end. Lest I leave you in too dark a mood on this Palm Sunday, let me speak of a relatively new understanding of our human nature and the whole cosmic dance into which our lives are caught up. © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 6 Did you watch the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver? If you did, is there one moment in particular that stands out for you? For me it was the moment when Joannie Brochere, the Canadian figure skater, finished her first program – a brilliant performance and, at its completion, burst into tears. Her parents had come to Vancouver to support her bid for an Olympic medal. A day after arriving, her mother died of a heart attack. It was decided Joannie would skate nevertheless. She did. She did it beautifully – for her mother – and then burst into tears. I think there was not a dry eye in the Olympic stadium nor anywhere in the world where people were watching. The TV commentator Scott Hamilton’s voice cracked with emotion. In those moments the world was one, united in empathic embrace of that young woman. I use that phrase “empathic embrace” because at the time of this event I was reading a book by Jeremy Rifkin entitled The Empathic Civilization, (Penguin Group, 2009). He opens chapter one with an account of December 24, 1914, in Flanders, Belgium: “The evening of December 24, 1914, Flanders. The first world war in history was entering into its fifth month. Millions of soldiers were bedded down in makeshift trenches latticed across the European countryside. In many places the opposing armies were dug in within thirty to fifty yards of each other and within shouting distance. The conditions were hellish. The bitter-cold winter air chilled to the bone. The trenches were waterlogged. Soldiers shared their quarters with rats and vermin. Lacking adequate latrines, the stench of human excrement was everywhere. The men slept upright to avoid the muck and sludge of their makeshift arrangements. Dead soldiers littered the no-man’s-land between opposing forces, the bodies left to rot and decompose within yards of their still-living comrades who were unable to collect them for burial. As dusk fell over the battlefields, something extraordinary happened. The Germans began lighting candles on the thousands of small Christmas trees that had been sent to the front to lend some comfort to the men. The German soldiers then began to sing Christmas carols – first “Silent Night,” then a stream of other songs followed. The English soldiers were stunned. One soldier, gazing in disbelief at the enemy lines, said the blazed trenches looked “like the footlights of a theater.” The English soldiers responded with applause, at first tentatively, then with exuberance. They began to sing Christmas carols back to their German foes to equally robust applause. A few men from both sides crawled out of their trenches and began to walk across the no-man’s-land toward each other. Soon hundreds followed. As word spread across the front, thousands of men poured out of their trenches. They shook hands, exchanged cigarettes and cakes and showed © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 7 photos of their families. They talked about where they hailed from, reminisced about Christmases past, and joked about the absurdity of war. The next morning, as the Christmas sun rose over the battlefield of Europe, tens of thousands of men – some estimates put the number as high as 100,000 soldiers – talked quietly with one another. Enemies just twenty-four hours earlier, they found themselves helping each other bury their dead comrades. More than a few pickup soccer matches were reported. Even officers at the front participated, although when the news filtered back to the high command in the rear,, the generals took a less enthusiastic view of the affair. Worried that the truce might undermine military morale, the generals quickly took measures to rein in their troops. The surreal “Christmas truce” ended as abruptly as it began – all in all, a small blip in a war that would end in November 1918 with 8.5 million military deaths in the greatest episode of human carnage in the annals of history until that time. For a few short hours, no more than a day, tens of thousands of human beings broke ranks, not only from their commands but from their allegiances to country, to show their common humanity. Thrown together to maim and kill, they courageously stepped outside of their institutional duties to commiserate with one another and to celebrate each other’s lives. While the battlefield is supposed to be a place where heroism is measured in one’s willingness to kill and die for a noble cause that transcends one’s everyday life, these men chose a different type of courage. They reached out to each other’s very private suffering and sought solace in each other’s plight. Walking across no-man’s-land, they found themselves in one another. The strength to comfort each other flowed from a deep unspoken sense of their individual vulnerability and their unrequited desire for the companionship of their fellows. It was, without reserve, a very human moment. Still, it was reported as a strange lapse at the time. A century later, we commemorate the episode as a nostalgic interlude in a world we have come to define in very different terms.” But was it a lapse or was it an epiphany moment when what is deepest in our human nature came to expression in a most remarkable fashion? “Yet what transpired in the battlefields of Flanders on Christmas Eve 1914 between tens of thousands of young men had nothing to do with original sin or productive labor. And the pleasure those men sought in each other’s company bore little resemblance to the superficial rendering of pleasure offered up by nineteenth-century utilitarians and even less to Freud’s © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 8 rather pathological account of a human race preoccupied by the erotic impulse. The men at Flanders expressed a far deeper human sensibility – one that emanates from the very marrow of human existence and that transcends the portals of time and the exigencies of whatever contemporary orthodoxy happens to rule. We need only ask ourselves why we feel so heartened at what these men did. They chose to be human. And the central human quality they expressed was empathy for one another.” Thus Rifkin begins an extensive portrayal of the empathetic core of human nature, the recognition of which is a relatively recent discovery and calls in question the traditional understanding of human nature. He points out that the official chroniclers of the human story – the historians – “have given short shrift to empathy as a driving force in the unfolding of human history. They write about social conflicts and wars, heroes and evil wrongdoers, technological progress and the exercise of power.” Only rarely is the other side of the human experience covered – the side that speaks of our deeply social nature and the evolution and extension of human affection. Rifkin continues: History, on the other hand, is more often than not made by the disgruntled and discontented, the angry and rebellious – those interested in exercising authority and exploiting others and their victims, interested in righting wrongs and restoring justice. By this reckoning, much of the history that is written is about the pathology of power. Perhaps that is why, when we come to think about human nature, we have such a bleak analysis. Our collective memory is measured in terms of crises and calamities, harrowing injustices, and terrifying episodes of brutality inflicted on each other and our fellow creatures. But if these were the defining elements of human experience, we would have perished as a species long ago. All of which raises the question, “Why have we come to think of life in such dire terms?” The answer is that tales of misdeeds and woe surprise us. They are unexpected and, therefore, trigger alarm and heighten our interest. That is because such events are novel and not the norm, but they are newsworthy and for that reason they are the stuff of history. The everyday world is quite different. Although life as it’s lived on the ground, close to home, is peppered with suffering, stresses, injustices, and foul play, it is, for the most part, lived out in hundreds of small acts of kindness and generosity. Comfort and compassion between people creates goodwill, establishes the bonds of sociality, and gives joy to people’s lives. Much of our daily interaction with our fellow human beings is empathic because that is our core nature. Empathy is the very means by which we © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page 9 create social life and advance civilization. In short, it is the extraordinary evolution of empathic consciousness that is the quintessential underlying story of human history, even if it has not been given the serious attention it deserves by our historians. Rifkin explains the relatively recent recognition of the empathic core of human nature: There is still another reason why empathy has yet to be seriously examined in all of its anthropological and historical detail. The difficulty lies in the evolutionary process itself. Empathic consciousness has grown slowly over the 175,000 years of human history. It has sometimes flourished, only to recede for long periods of time. Its progress has been irregular, but its trajectory is clear. Empathic development and the development of selfhood go hand in hand and accompany the increasingly complex energy-consuming social structures that make up the human journey. (We will examine this relationship throughout the book.) Because the development of selfhood is so completely intertwined with the development of empathic consciousness, the very term “empathy” didn’t become part of the human vocabulary until 1909 – about the same time that modern psychology began to explore the internal dynamics of the unconscious and consciousness itself. In other words, it wasn’t until human beings were developed enough in human selfhood that they could begin thinking about the nature of their innermost feelings and thoughts in relation to other people’s innermost feelings and thoughts that they were able to recognize the existence of empathy, find the appropriate metaphors to discuss it, and probe the deep recesses of its multiple meanings. We have to remember that, as recently as six generations ago, out greatgreat-grandparents – living circa mid-to-late 1880s – were not encultured to think therapeutically. My own grandparents were unable to probe their feelings and thinking in order to analyze how their past emotional experiences and relationships affected their behavior toward others and their sense of self. They were untutored in the notion of unconscious drives and terms like transference and projection. Today, a hundred years after the coming of the age of psychology, young people are thoroughly immersed in therapeutic consciousness and comfortable with thinking about, getting in touch with and analyzing their own innermost feelings, emotions, and thoughts – as well as those of their fellows. The precursor to empathy was the word “sympathy” – a term that came into vogue during the European Enlightenment. The Scottish economist Adam Smith wrote a book on moral sentiments in 1759. Although far better known for his theory of the marketplace, Smith devoted © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page10 considerable attention to the question of human emotions. Sympathy, for Smith, Hume, other philosophers, and literary figures of the time, meant feeling sorry for another’s plight. Empathy shares emotional territory with sympathy but is markedly different. Rifken connects empathy to its origins in sympathy and makes the distinction. The term “empathy” is derived from the German word Einfuhlung, coined by Robert Vischer in 1872 and used in German aesthetics. Einfuhlung relates to how observers project their own sensibilities onto an object of adoration or contemplation and is a way of explaining how one comes to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of, for example, a work of art. The German philosopher and historian Wilhelm Dilthey borrowed the term from aesthetics and began to use it to describe the mental process by which one person enters into another’s being and comes to know how they feel and think. In 1909, the American psychologist E.B. Titchener translated Einfuhlung into a new word, “empathy.” Titchener had studied with Wilhelm Wundt, the father of modern psychology, while in Europe. Like many young psychologists in the field, Titchener was primarily interested in the key concept of introspection, the process by which a person examines his or her own inner feelings and drives, emotions, and thoughts to gain a sense of personal understanding about the formation of his or her identity and selfhood. The “pathy” in empathy suggests that we enter into the emotional state of another’s suffering and feel his or her pain as if it were our own. Variations of empathy soon emerged, including “empathic” and “to empathize,” as the term became part of the popular psychological culture emerging in cosmopolitan centers in Vienna, London, New York, and elsewhere. Unlike sympathy, which is more passive, empathy conjures up active engagement – the willingness of an observer to become part of another’s experience, to share the feeling of that experience… What does this tell us about human nature? Is it possible that human beings are not inherently evil or intrinsically self-interested and materialistic, but are of a very different nature – an empathic one – and that all of the other drives that we have considered to be primary – aggression, violence, selfish behavior, acquisitiveness – are in fact secondary drives that flow from repression or denial of our most basic instinct? Is there perhaps a different future than we have yet known? Might we be in an adolescent age with all its awful partisanship in our political life, the rage of © Grand Valley State University �Palm Sunday Peace Parade Richard A. Rhem Page11 extremists, the awful acid that oozes from radio and the blather of cable TV’s talking heads? Remember Joannie Brochere skating for her mom. Remember the Christmas Eve on Flander’s Field Jesus wept. So do I. But Jesus found the human cause worth dying for. So do I, for down deep, for all that makes us enemies, there is something deeper that makes us one. References Jeremy Rifkin. The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. New York: The Penguin Group, 2009. © 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 Scripture Text Luke 19:41-44, 23:32-34, 46 Location The location of the interview Unity Church, Douglas References Jeremy Rifkin. The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, 2009. 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-0-20100328 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-03-28 Title A name given to the resource A Palm Sunday Peace Parade and a Personal Pilgrimage 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 28, 2010 entitled "A Palm Sunday Peace Parade and a Personal Pilgrimage", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Unity Church, Douglas. Scripture references: Luke 19:41-44, 23:32-34, 46. 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 Jesus' Nonviolent Resistance to Domination Systems https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6fd22b2aa4aa037e7ffa01ca4989cd13.pdf e68daca02ce78ece3e492822f9835b01 PDF Text Text The Feeling which Remains When the Concept Fails Pentecost Sunday Isaiah 6: 1-8; Mark 1: 9-15 Richard A. Rhem Spring Lake Country Club Spring Lake, Michigan May 23, 2010 Prepared text of sermon Another Pentecost – The Festival of the Holy Spirit – fifty days after Easter. And next Sunday – Trinity Sunday – the Lord’s Day which brings the annual church year to its culmination after completing the cycle once again of the story of Jesus from birth to death-resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. We are gathered on this Sunday not accidentally – I chose it in consultation with Mr. Bryson because this is Pentecost and next Sunday is the celebration of the Trinity. Consequently it allows us to mine the deep riches of the Christian tradition – its themes, liturgy and music. But even beyond the rich traditional sources for worship, is the focus of the theme itself – this evening Pentecost and Trinity. The last time we gathered as a community of friends it was at Christmas. The time before that it was All Saint’s Day. You see the pattern. I confess I love to celebrate these Holy seasons; it gives me a reason to dig once more into the story, the story of Jesus, the church’s story and relive again the moments of rich celebration and the message and meaning of these markers, these high points of our shared faith tradition. This is the shared story that has formed and shaped us, inspired us and given us hope and courage, comfort and consolation. I do love it. I love going back to the old story, the ancient celebrations, seeking to grasp the depths of truth that came to expression in the story and then reflect on how to bring to fresh expression from our historical moment what was seeking to come to expression in the ancient story and in the early Church Fathers. In fact, I have had half a notion to propose we form a church and we call it The Church of the Holy Seasons. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? We could set up an annual calendar – Christmas, Ash Wednesday/Lent/Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost/Trinity. I think I could handle four or five sermons a year. As for Mr. Bryson, he is still engaged about fifty-three Lord’s Days a year, so it would be no problem for him. © Grand Valley State University   �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The Church of the Holy Seasons – I like that! Not bothered by buildings or budgets or staff – well, just a few tired ministers and a few wonderful volunteers gathering a community of old friends with many rich memories and shared story who still find meaning, guidance, hope and joy in the Story of Jesus and challenge in the Way of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Seasons with the service beginning at 6:00 and the bar opening at 7:00. Well, I play with you a bit about the Church of the Holy Seasons, but as for the Holy Seasons, I am serious. I love them and am still moved as we celebrate them together. The Seasons, the High Holy Days, tell a story. The story is obviously told in the cosmic, historical thinking of an ancient age. The world, the cosmos, the evolutionary unfolding of being as we know it, even with its deep mysteries still hidden, was not at all in their knowledge or understanding, but that does not mean they did not wonder about and wrestle with ultimate questions of life. They were conscious, self conscious, conscious of the other. They experienced birth and death, nature in its beauty and terror. And as far back as we have knowledge, they were religious in the sense of coming to terms with the Mystery of Being, with the meaning of human existence. Our own Christian tradition flows out of the Hebrew religious tradition and that tradition came to full expression in the Axial Age, the period usually dated from 800–200 before the Common Era. In China, India, the Middle East and Greece, without any interplay between them, there was an awakening of the human spirit and a new self-consciousness. I don’t mean to go into this in depth but only to say that there was a profound wrestling with the Mystery of Being, the meaning of life, and the cosmic reality. The great eighth-century prophets of Israel are part of this landscape and it is out of this historical nexus that our Christian story arose. This is a huge subject and I am not pursuing it any further except to say that our ancient story, which in many respects appears to be naïve, even child-like, was not that at all. With what knowledge was available to Isaiah and Jeremiah and the rest of the Hebrew prophets and temple priesthood, they probed the ultimate questions of the human situation and sought to find a meaning and pattern in history’s unfolding, observing the temple rites, offerings and prayers. It was out of the womb of Israel that Jesus was born in the time of the Roman imperial domination of Israel and Judah. And the life, ministry and crucifixion of Jesus occurred in an ancient time but a time in which history was recorded. And the early Jesus movement, sensing still the presence of the crucified Jesus, declared his resurrection and were convinced Jesus whom they understood to be the Messiah or Anointed One was pouring out his spirit – that was the Spirit of God – on them, empowering them to tell his story and invite the world to believe in him whom they believed to be one with God. And they believed as well that © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 3   they were living on the edge of history whose curtain would soon fall and time would be no more. Of course, they were wrong on that. They had no clue about where they were on the calendar of history. But regardless of their ignorance of where they were in history’s calendar as well as their ignorance of history’s other great civilizations and, indeed, of the cosmic drama of 13 plus billion years of cosmic emergence, they were not ignorant of the existential reality of being human in the perilous historical journey. I go into this because here we are celebrating Pentecost and looking ahead one week to Trinity Sunday. Were our ancient forbearers simply naïve, unknowing and not to be taken seriously? If so why celebrate the Holy Seasons that stem from their story? The point I am trying to make as we celebrate the Festival of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity is that those ancient observances were a human response to deep religious experience – the experience of encounter with the Sacred Mystery of all being, or, in the shorthand of symbol, the experience of the Presence of God. The theologian Paul Tillich understood religious observance as “ultimate concern” and the term God as a symbol for the Ultimate. Tillich’s term was “The Ground of Being” which was an attempt to move that ultimate mystery from a, perhaps too familiar, personal category. Yet, if our being at its highest is the personal, it is unlikely that some aspect of the personal will be denied to the sacred mystery. Whatever! I stammer and stumble because I am trying to bring to expression an inexpressible reality. The most orthodox of Christian theology spoke of God’s incomprehensibility. Yet it has been a universal experience of humanity that God’s presence is known – in silence, vision or voice and responded to in the rich diversity of patterns of religious observances. And one such pattern of response has been the celebrating of the story of Jesus in the respective festivals of the Christian Year. My title for this meditation is perhaps a bit mysterious but that is only to be expected for a discussion of the experience of God, of the Sacred Mystery of all Being – “the feeling which remains where the concept fails.” This statement is a quote from a classic theological text, The Idea of the Holy, authored by Rudolf Otto described in the New World Encyclopedia as follows: Rudolf Otto (September 25, 1869 – March 5, 1937) was an eminent theologian and religious scholar in the German Protestant tradition. He is particularly remarkable for his contribution to the phenomenology of religious consciousness and his work in the fields of comparative religion and the history of religion. Based on his research and observation, Otto © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 4   developed the notion of the “numinous” to express the reality of the sacred as the defining element of religious experience. Otto thus stressed the unique and essentially non-rational nature of religious reality, one that he saw as irreducible to other elements. This stood in stark contrast to the commonly accepted view of his time that the real essence of religion lies in universal ethical teachings that can be rationally justified. In the late 18th, early 19th century when the Protestant Christian theological endeavor was trying to come to terms with the Enlightenment that sought to reduce Christian faith to rational explanation and ethical teaching, Otto raised a forceful “No!”, claiming religious experience is a human experience that cannot be reduced to reason or ethics; rather, it is its own reality, a category of human experience beyond rational categories. In the forward by Otto to the first English edition (1923) Otto wrote: This book, recognizing the profound import of the non-rational for metaphysics, makes a serious attempt to analyze all the more exactly the feeling which remains where the concept fails and to introduce a terminology which is not any the more loose or indeterminate for having necessarily to make use of symbols. Otto registered a strong statement for the reality of religious experience – the experience of the “wholly other,” a designation for God which Karl Barth later picked up and popularized. The German title, Das Heilige, would be translated “the Sacred” or “the Holy”. The sub-title was “On the irrational element in the idea of the Divine and its relationship to the rational element.” Thus Otto in rigorous scholarly fashion was intent on taking into account both the rational and the irrational elements in the encounter with the Sacred Mystery – or, better, the rational and the trans-rational. It was his insistence on the trans or supra rational that set him apart from the climate of opinion of his times. Making a strong protest against the then current “domestication” of religious experience, his work made a strong impression and has had a renewal of interest from 1990 to the present, even though, as might be expected, he was criticized by conservatives because his insight called in question the exclusive claim of Christian theology, recognizing as he did, the common nature of religious experience in whatever tradition. He was criticized also by those who saw religion as simply ethics with a touch of passion. In spite of criticism from right and left, his work remains a significant marker for the reality of the religious phenomenon as a non-reducible, original category in its own right and, obviously, his work is a key element in the movement toward inter-religious dialogue and the study of comparative religions and the history of religion. The feeling which remains when the concept fails – I suspect that statement fascinates me because maybe it defines me – literally from youth trying to understand rationally what I have experienced beyond reason – the feeling that © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 5   cannot be denied even when I cannot explain it in terms of the concepts of rational discourse. The band of Jesus’ followers no doubt stayed together, no doubt bewildered, no doubt wondering what was next, no doubt sharing their loss, their grief and yet their sense that somehow, someway He was with them still. “He lives,” they exclaimed. They went back to their Scriptures, they tried to make sense of their experience. And then it was the Jewish Festival of Shavuot, the commemoration of the giving of the Ten Commandments fifty days after the Exodus. Jews came from throughout the empire to celebrate the Festival in Jerusalem and it happened – an overwhelming sense of the Presence of the Spirit of Jesus who was understood to be the Messiah, the word for anointed in Hebrew – the Spirit of Jesus which was the Spirit of God. It was an experience of the presence of God and they knew the ecstasy of being lost in wonder, love and praise. We have the event recorded in Acts 2. The story as related there must have an historical core whatever the actual event entailed. I am not really concerned with precisely what happened except to say as the Jewish Jesus Movement moved out and eventually became a Jewish/Gentile Jesus movement, indeed, the Christian Church, this event was looked back to as the birth of the Christian movement. That there should be an encounter with God was not novel. I read from Isaiah 6, the familiar record of Isaiah’s vision of God in the temple in the eighth century B.C.E. wherein he heard his call and responded, “Here am I, send me.” In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty… and the angelic hosts called Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah writes of his horror before the awesome one, only to be touched, cleansed and assured by the angel ministering at the altar. What do you make of that? I also read from Mark’s Gospel. Before there was Pentecost or Easter or Good Friday, there was Jesus’ ministry. For Isaiah it was a time of crisis – the king was dead. For Jesus it was the Roman Imperial domination. John the Baptist was leading a Jewish renewal movement. Jesus came by and was baptized by John and as he emerged from the waters …he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved. With you I am well pleased.” © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Mark then tells us that the Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and then interestingly Mark tells us, after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news. Then Mark tells us Jesus called his disciples and the preaching tour in Galilee ensued. I don’t think I ever juxtaposed the vision of Isaiah and the baptismal epiphany of Jesus before but it is interesting that both occurred at a time of political/social crisis. Both were grasped by a calling. Isaiah spoke of a people walking in darkness seeing a great light, a people to whom a child was born who would be among other designations the Prince of Peace. He spoke of the birth of a child who would be named Immanuel, a name signifying “God with us.” And again he wrote of a shoot from the stump of Jesse upon whom the Spirit of the Lord would rest. Don’t hear me attempting as is common in classic orthodoxy to see Isaiah predicting the birth and ministry of Jesus. What I am really attempting to suggest is the reality of the encounter with God, the reality of spiritual experience wherein is sensed a calling to point to an alternative world – a world marked by justice, compassion and peace. This was Israel’s vision at its finest as it came to expression through the prophetic word. And the same was true of the ministry of Jesus – a vision for which he was crucified by the established powers of Temple and Empire. So here we are on Pentecost. We have a story, the story of Jesus who emerges from the story of Israel and, in the wake of his life, death and ongoing presence, there is an overpowering experience of Jesus’ continuing presence and power calling those gathered followers to get on with the cause, to proclaim Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we are here this evening because they did! The Jesus Movement was born and 2000 years later the story has reached us – the story of the Way of Jesus, the way of love, the way of peace. Next Sunday is Trinity Sunday. I’m sure you have been bored to death with sermons on the Triune God. I remember one I preached a few years ago – “One plus One plus One = One”. Rather cute I thought. Some of the finest minds the human family has produced have wrestled in deep philosophical endeavor to understand, define, describe the doctrine of the Trinity. Profound human thought has labored at the task. In a sermon from Riverside Church in New York City, the late great preacher, William Sloan Coffin, © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 7   referred to the primary author of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, Tertullian, and then wrote, I mention Tertullian’s debating because all doctrines really are born in debate. They are correctives, a way of saying “No, no, it’s this way, not that!” “God in three persons” is a corrective to a monotheism too narrow to take in Christ, and a corrective to all forms of dualism that seek to divide the world between spirit and matter, or appearance and reality, or the forces of good versus the forces of evil. “Three in One” says “One God, one world.” The theological struggle to bring clarity to the nature of God has had its place and in no way do I denigrate the theological endeavor of the centuries of the Christian tradition. As I said above, that task has engaged the finest minds of the human family over the centuries. I do think however we can perhaps see the whole religious phenomenon, including the Christian faith, more simply from where we are in the unfolding human story. All genuine religion is trinitarian. There is the mystery, the holy source, ground and goal of Being. There is the breakthrough of that Holy One, whether to Moses, Isaiah or Jesus, Buddha or Mohammed. And out of the respective encounters and callings there emerges a vision, a light, a teaching, a way. And the visionary responds to the encounter and call and gathers a community which adopts the vision and follows the way, creating rites and rituals, prayers, observances and sacraments, by which to keep the story alive and to be reminded of the way, and by means of which to teach the convert and the rising generation. The observances form the rhythm, the liturgy of life as it were, and shape the community, giving it form and identity. That’s why I, admittedly playfully, suggest we form the Church of the Holy Seasons. It is in the annual observance of the flashpoints of the Christian story that we remember the Story, that we are moved in our depths by that which has formed us, that we are touched anew with the Grace we first knew as we embraced the story and sensed we are embraced by the good and gracious God toward which it all points. The Holy Trinity? Simple: The Creative Mystery, our Source, Ground and Goal, has become human – has a face and breathes on us the breath/wind of life, so we know beyond knowing, for where the concept fails there is a feeling that remains and it is love and grace and peace. The Church of the Holy Seasons – we need a name because Christ Community Church is a name no more. In an E-zine, Ian articulated very well why it was time © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 8   – I would say overtime – that the name be changed. The logic of names and the reason for the change are expressed very well. I agree totally. Sometimes one understands oneself best by realizing what one is not. Ian and his leadership people have named themselves by that they are becoming and have become. Only one statement with which I disagree in Ian’s piece – saying they had many names submitted that expressed the need to “move from a narrow Christian name to something more universal and inclusive.” I suggest Christ Community was not a “narrow Christian name;” quite the contrary, it defined our movement to becoming a truly ecumenical community. Furthermore we put into practice the insight of Rudolf Otto that there is a common element in all religious experience – the revealing of the hidden mystery that is God beyond all human conceptions. Interfaith experience was a marvelous dimension of our community life. What that did, however, was, in understanding the other, help us to understand ourselves at a deeper level. I would suggest we became more Christian, that is, more reflective of the Spirit of Jesus even as we affirmed the truth and beauty of other ways. I bring this up because it is a teaching moment – maybe to create clarity as to why you are here and not there. One makes a choice to experience the Universal in the particular or to seek a Universal without particular definition. It is possible our brothers and sisters will be proven right over time. Perhaps the particular traditions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and all other traditions will fade and die in their particularity. If so some new vision/way/tradition will rise and fulfill the hunger of the human heart for the experience of God. To be honest, I’m not interested in that. I have no need or even curiosity about such a possible spiritual future. Bless those who do but as for me it is the Church of the Holy Seasons – it is the Holy Mystery that has a human face by whose grace the Spirit mantles my whole being. I would be so blessed if my children’s children’s children were marked with baptismal water in the sign of the cross. If our future generation were familiar with a table set with bread and wine, if they got goose bumps singing “Silent Night, Holy Night,” “O, Sacred Head, Now Wounded;” if they thrilled to the first organ chords of “Christ, the Lord, is risen today” and stood with moistened eyes as the choir sang “The Hallelujah Chorus,” if they sang “Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me” and if they experienced moments so freighted with eternity that they could but sing Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of your glory! Want to join me in the Church of the Holy Seasons? © Grand Valley State University �Feeling Which Remains when Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 9   Reference: Rudolf Otto (1869-1937). The Idea of the Holy. First published in 1918; Second edition, Oxford University Press, 1958. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost Scripture Text Isaiah 6:1-8, Mark 1:9-15 Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club References Rudolf Otto. The Idea of the Holy. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, 1958 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20100523 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-05-23 Title A name given to the resource The Feeling Which Remains When the Concept Fails 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 May 23, 2010 entitled "The Feeling Which Remains When the Concept Fails", on the occasion of Pentecost, at Spring Lake Country Club. Scripture references: Isaiah 6:1-8, Mark 1:9-15. 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 Genuine religion as trinitarian Pentecost https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8d74e6caeacfe75432386231f15d2ab9.pdf f8ad22f29d8c7b39f83e73a292868105 PDF Text Text Do We Need a New American Dream? Matthew 5: 38-48; Romans 12: 1-2; 14-21 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan July 14, 2010 Prepared text of the sermon A week ago we celebrated once again the independence of this nation, a nation that was founded on a magnificent vision of human rights, of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Those who created and signed our founding documents were a rare gathering of visionaries whose labors established the foundation of a very great nation. As one of my friends said recently, those leaders were a miracle; they would never be able to establish the Constitution or the Bill of Rights today in the present feverish climate of political partisanship. One of my most respected mentors whose funeral I conducted lived to the age of 92. He would often say how blessed one is to live long because one gains a perspective on the ebb and flow of human events. One has seen it all before, as it were, and is not quick to despair no matter how dark the day. And that is certainly true. Nevertheless, one has to be wholly out of touch with the current affairs of state not to wonder if we haven’t reached a very dark period of our national life. The partisanship in our federal government obstructing the legislative process, the degree to which financial power trumps dealing with critical global issues, the serious economic situation of the present, dealing with the worst ecological disaster ever – one could go on but, of whatever political stripe, I think there is a general consensus that we are not in a good place. It is in recognition of the present state of this great nation and its failure to live by its founding vision that I raise the question, “Do We Need a New American Dream?” The New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, opened his column on July 2 writing: When I was young and naïve, I believed that important people took positions based on careful considerations of the options. Now I know better. Much of what serious people believe rests on prejudices, not analysis. And these prejudices are subject to fads and fashions. Krugman, a Nobel Prize economics scholar from Princeton, has been warning that the stimulus has been too little and now warns against cutting off stimulus © Grand Valley State University   �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   spending too soon. He finds the claims of deficit hawks similar to the claims of Herbert Hoover as we plunged into the Great Depression. Well, I’m not here to argue for or against Krugman; this session is not economics 101. His statement about how we take positions based on prejudice rather than analysis struck me because I have been wrestling with that very same realization. When one wants to raise questions about the American Dream, one is not likely to have before one open minds eager for critical analysis. I’m not certain if religious views or nationalism and patriotism breed the greater emotional bonds that result in more prejudicial positions and less critical awareness; maybe they are equal. This I know, a preacher courts disaster addressing any one of them. That’s why I’m glad I’m not a preacher any longer – just a senior on the edge of senility who will be forgiven for rushing in where angels fear to tread. With all of that being recognized, nonetheless, I raise the question, “Do we need a new American Dream?” The question was raised by the best selling author Jeremy Rifkin, one of the leading social thinkers of our time, whose many titles cover a wide range of subjects, and whose counsel is sought by the European Union and heads of state around the world. His recent book, The Empathic Civilization – The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, is not focused on the United States particularly; rather, he is thinking in global terms about the human race. He did, however, write an essay entitled, “Empathic Civilization: Is it Time to Replace the American Dream?” It is in that essay that he deals specifically with the theme of my presentation. He defines the American Dream: For two hundred years the American Dream has served as the bedrock foundation of the American way of life. The dream, reduced to its essence, is that in America, every person has the right and opportunity to pursue his or her own individual material self interest in the marketplace, and make something of their life, or at least sacrifice so the next generation might enjoy a better life. The role of the government, in turn, is to guarantee individual freedom, assure the proper functioning of the market, protect property rights, and look out for national security. In all other matters, the government is expected to step aside so that a nation of free men and women can pursue their individual ambitions. He goes on to write of the present state of that dream which he thinks is in crisis and then suggests that to recognize that fact is one thing; to do an analysis of the Dream’s underlying assumptions is another. Rifkin writes, Although American history is peppered with lamentations about the souring of the dream, the criticism never extends to the assumptions that underlie the dream, but only to political, economic and social forces that © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   thwart its realization. To suggest that the dream itself is misguided, outdated, and even damaging to the American psyche, would be considered almost treasonous. Yet, I would like to suggest just that. I opened with Paul Krugman’s statement that “much of what serious people believe rests on prejudice, not analysis,” because the task Rifkin takes on – examining the underlying assumptions of the Dream – is where analysis will run into prejudice. Nevertheless, his examination is critical for an understanding of our present national situation. His particular attention to the American Dream arises from his large work, The Empathic Civilization, which gives an overview of the human story in its evolution and holds hope and possibility for a new stage of the human project. Rifkin portrays the broad sweep of human history as far back as we can probe, but, for our purposes, Rifkin notes the cultural divide between faith versus reason, faith dominating the first millenium and a half of the Common Era, with reason becoming dominant with the Age of Enlightenment. It is his contention that we are moving beyond the faith-reason divide toward an empathic civilization. In a blog entitled “Empathic Civilization: Why Have We Become So Uncivil?” (posted 03/01/2010), Rifkin writes, At the dawn of the modern market economy and nation-state era, the philosophers of the Enlightenment challenged the Age of Faith, that governed over the feudal economy, with the Age of Reason. Theologians and philosophers have continued to battle over faith vs. reason ever since, their debates often spilling over into the cultural and political arenas, with profound consequences for society. The empathic advocates argue that, for the most part, both earlier narratives about human nature fail to plumb the depths of what makes us human and therefore leave us with cosmologies that are incomplete stories – that is, they fail to touch the deepest realities of existence. That’s not to dismiss the critical elements that make the stories of faith and reason so compelling. It’s only that something essential is missing – and that something is “embodied experience.” Both the Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – as well as the Eastern religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, either disparage bodily existence or deny its importance. So too does modern science and most of the rational philosophers of the Enlightenment. For the former, especially the Abrahamic faiths, the body is fallen and a source of evil. Its presence is a constant reminder of the depravity and mortality of human nature. For the latter, the body is mere scaffolding to maintain the mind, a necessary inconvenience to provide sensory perception, nutrients, and mobility. It is a machine the mind uses to impress its will on the world. It is even loathed because of its transient nature. The body is a © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   constant reminder of death, and therefore, feared, disparaged and dismissed in the world’s great religions and among many of the Enlightenment philosophers. But, Rifkin argues, the worldviews of both faith and reason, while still very much alive in the present, are giving way to what he calls the age of empathy. He points to recent developments: New developments in evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and psychology are laying the groundwork for a wholesale reappraisal of human consciousness. The premodern notion that faith and God’s grace are the windows to reality and the Enlightenment idea that reason is at the apex of modern consciousness are giving way to a more sophisticated approach to a theory of mind. Researchers in a diverse range of fields and disciplines are beginning to reprioritize some of the critical features of faith and reason within the context of a broader empathic consciousness. They argue that all of human activity is embodied experience – that is, participation with the other – and that the ability to read and respond to another person “as if” he or she were oneself is the key to how human beings engage the world, create individual identity, develop language, learn to reason, become social, establish cultural narratives, and define reality and existence. Rifkin is making a bold and daring claim that human nature at its core is empathic – in contrast to widely accepted views – from both the religious and the Enlightenment thinkers, that human nature is “fallen,” is depraved in religious parlance and competitive, even predatory, self-serving, acquisitive – every man for himself and winner take all in the view of a market economy stemming from Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke, Adam Smith and others. Just what does he mean when he claims the deepest core of human nature is to be empathetic? Let me expand a bit on the nature of empathy as he explains it and then illustrate it with stories that reveal it. As I indicated above, the recognition of an empathic core to the human being is a relatively recent discovery with much work remaining to demonstrate and document it. Why has the realization of human empathy taken so long to understand? According to Rifkin, There is still another reason why empathy has yet to be seriously examined in all of its anthropological and historical detail. The difficulty lies in the evolutionary process itself. Empathic consciousness has grown slowly over the 175,000 years of human history. It has sometimes flourished, only to recede for long periods of time. Its progress has been irregular, but its trajectory is clear. Empathic development and the development of selfhood go hand in hand and accompany the increasingly complex © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   energy-consuming social structures that make up the human journey. (We will examine this relationship throughout the book.) Because the development of selfhood is so completely intertwined with the development of empathic consciousness, the very term “empathy” didn’t become part of the human vocabulary until 1909 – about the same time that modern psychology began to explore the internal dynamics of the unconscious and consciousness itself. In other words, it wasn’t until human beings were developed enough in human selfhood that they could begin thinking about the nature of their innermost feelings and thoughts in relation to other people’s innermost feelings and thoughts that they were able to recognize the existence of empathy, find the appropriate metaphors to discuss it, and probe the deep recesses of its multiple meanings. We have to remember that as recently as six generations ago, our greatgreat-grandparents – living circa mid-to-late 1880’s – were not encultured to think therapeutically. My own grandparents were unable to probe their feelings and thinking in order to analyze how their past emotional experiences and relationships affected their behavior toward others and their sense of self. They were untutored in the coming of the age of psychology. Young people are thoroughly immersed in therapeutic consciousness and comfortable with thinking about, getting in touch with and analyzing their own innermost feelings, emotions, and thoughts – as well as those of their fellows. The precursor to empathy was the word “sympathy” – a term that came into vogue during the European Enlightenment. The Scottish economist Adam Smith wrote a book on moral sentiments in 1759. Although far better known for his theory of the marketplace, Smith devoted considerable attention to the question of human emotions. Sympathy, for Smith, Hume, other philosophers, and literary figures of the time, meant feeling sorry for another’s plight. Empathy shares emotional territory with sympathy but is markedly different. (The Empathetic Civilization, p. 11f) Rifkin connects empathy to its origins in sympathy and makes the distinction. The term “empathy” is derived from the German word Einfuhlung, coined by Robert Vischer in 1872 and used in German aesthetics. Einfuhlung relates to how observers project their own sensibilities onto an object of adoration or contemplation and is a way of explaining how one comes to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of, for example, a work of art. The German philosopher and historian Wilhelm Dilthey borrowed the term from aesthetics and began to use it to describe the mental process by which one person enters into another’s being and comes to know how they feel and think. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   In 1909, the American psychologist E.B. Titchener translated Einfuhlung into a new word, “empathy.” Titchener had studied with Wilhelm Wundt, the father of modern psychology, while in Europe. Like many young psychologists in the field, Titchener was primarily interested in the key concept of introspection, the process by which a person examines his or her own inner feelings and drives, emotions, and thoughts to gain a sense of personal understanding about the formation of his or her identity and selfhood. The “pathy” in empathy suggests that we enter into the emotional state of another’s suffering and feel his or her pain as if it were our own. Variations of empathy soon emerged, including “empathic” and “to empathize,” as the term became part of the popular psychological culture emerging in cosmopolitan centers in Vienna, London, New York, and elsewhere. Unlike sympathy, which is more passive, empathy conjures up active engagement – the willingness of an observer to become –part of another’s experience, to share the feeling of that experience… (p. 12) Is that the core of the human being in your experience? Why, if it is so, has human history seemed to describe quite another human being? Rifkin acknowledges that the official chroniclers of the human story – the historians – “have given short shrift to empathy as a driving force in the unfolding of human history. They write about social conflicts and wars, heroes and evil wrongdoers, technological progress and the exercise of power.” Only rarely is the other side of the human experience covered – the side that speaks of our deeply social nature and the evolution and extension of human affection. Rifkin contends, History, on the other hand, is more often than not made by the disgruntled and discontented, the angry and rebellious – those interested in exercising authority and exploiting others and their victims, interested in righting wrongs and restoring justice. By this reckoning, much of the history that is written is about the pathology of power. Perhaps that is why, when we come to think about human nature, we have such a bleak analysis. Out collective memory is measured in terms of crises and calamities, harrowing injustices, and terrifying episodes of brutality inflicted on each other and our fellow creatures. But if these were the defining elements of human experience, we would have perished as a species long ago. All of which raises the question “Why have we come to think of life in such dire terms?” The answer is that tales of misdeeds and woe surprise us. They are unexpected and, therefore, trigger alarm and heighten our interest. That is because such events are novel and not the norm, but they are newsworthy and for that reason they are the stuff of history. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   The everyday world is quite different. Although life as it’s lived on the ground, close to home, is peppered with suffering, stresses, injustices, and foul play, it is, for the most part, lived out in hundreds of small acts of kindness and generosity. Comfort and compassion between people creates goodwill, establishes the bonds of sociality, and gives joy to people’s lives. Much of our daily interaction with our fellow human beings is empathic because that is our core nature. Empathy is the very means by which we create social life and advance civilization. In short, it is the extraordinary evolution of empathic consciousness that is the quintessential underlying story of human history, even if it has not been given the serious attention it deserves by our historians. (The Empathic Civilization, p. 10) I was given The Empathic Civilization for my birthday in February and I was reading it during the Winter Olympics. I was reading about empathy at the deepest core of our being when I actually experienced an instance of the human family being one. Did you watch the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver? If you did is there one moment in particular that stands out for you? For me it was the moment when Joannie Brochere, the Canadian figure skater, finished her first program – a brilliant performance and, at its completion, burst into tears. Her parents had come to Vancouver to support her bid for an Olympic medal. A day after arriving her mother died of a heart attack. It was decided Joannie would skate nevertheless. She did. She did it beautifully – for her mother – and then burst into tears. I think there was not a dry eye in the Olympic stadium nor anywhere in the world where people were watching. The TV commentator Scott Hamilton’s voice cracked with emotion. In those moments the world was one, united in empathetic embrace of that young woman. I was a beautiful moment. I knew immediately that Rifkin’s claim for empathy at our core was right. Rifkin knows that claim will not prove convincing through all sorts of scientific studies of the brain – not through any form of rational argument where various voices debate the issue. Thus before making his case for human nature being empathic he relates an historical incident that has the same effect on us as did the Joannie Brochere moment. He opens chapter one relating the story of December 24, 1914, in Flanders, Belgium: The evening of December 24, 1914, Flanders. The first world war in history was entering into its fifth month. Millions of soldiers were bedded down in makeshift trenches latticed across the European countryside. In many places the opposing armies were dug in within thirty to fifty yards of each other and within shouting distance. The conditions were hellish. The bitter-cold winter air chilled to the bone. The trenches were waterlogged. Soldiers shared their quarters with rats and vermin. Lacking adequate latrines, the stench of human excrement was everywhere. The men slept upright to avoid the much and sludge of their makeshift arrangements. Dead soldiers littered the no-man’s-land between opposing forces, the © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 8   bodies left to rot and decompose within yards of their still-living comrades who were unable to collect them for burial. As dusk fell over the battlefields, something extraordinary happened. The Germans began lighting candles on the thousands of small Christmas trees that had been sent to the front to lend some comfort to the men. The German soldiers then began to sing Christmas carols – first “Silent Night,” then a stream of other songs followed. The English soldiers were stunned. One soldier, gazing in disbelief at the enemy lines, said the blazed trenches looked “like the footlights of a theater.” The English soldiers responded with applause, at first tentatively, then with exuberance. They began to sing Christmas carols back to their German foes to equally robust applause. A few men from both sides crawled out of their trenches and began to walk across the no-man’s-land toward each other. Soon hundreds followed. As word spread across the front, thousands of men poured out of their trenches. They shook hands, exchanged cigarettes and cakes and showed photos of their families. They talked about where they hailed from, reminisced about Christmases past, and joked about the absurdity of war. The next morning, as the Christmas sun rose over the battlefield of Europe, tens of thousands of men – some estimates put the number as high as 100,000 soldiers – talked quietly with one another. Enemies just twenty-four hours earlier, they found themselves helping each other bury their dead comrades. More than a few pickup soccer matches were reported. Even officers at the front participated, although when the news filtered back to the high command in the rear, the generals took a less enthusiastic view of the affair. Worried that the truce might undermine military morale, the generals quickly took measures to rein in their troops. The surreal “Christmas truce” ended as abruptly as it began – all in all, a small blip in a war that would end in November 1918 with 8.5 million military deaths in the greatest episode of human carnage in the annals of history until that time. For a few short hours, no more than a day, tens of thousands of human beings broke ranks, not only from their commands but from their allegiances to country, to show their common humanity. Thrown together to maim and kill, they courageously stepped outside of their institutional duties to commiserate with one another and to celebrate one another’s lives. While the battlefield is supposed to be a place where heroism is measured in one’s willingness to kill and die for a noble cause that transcends one’s everyday life, these men chose a different type of courage. They reached out to each other’s very private suffering and sought solace in each other’s plight. Walking across no-man’s-land, they found themselves in one © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page 9   another. The strength to comfort each other flowed from a deep unspoken sense of their individual vulnerability and their unrequited desire for the companionship of their fellows. It was, without reserve, a very human moment. Still, it was reported as a strange lapse at the time. A century later, we commemorate the episode as a nostalgic interlude in a world we have come to define in very different terms. (p. 6f) I get goose bumps reading that story even though I’ve read it many times. Something happens to me inside – some “Yes, yes, that is the way it should be – always, among all people.” I know in my “heart,” my inner being, what rationally I cannot prove. I’m reminded of a statement of Rudolph Otto in his classic, The Holy: “The feeling which remains when the concept fails.” Whether or not one can argue the biological, psychological, or spiritual bases of empathy at the core of our being, one knows that it is true in one’s heart of hearts. As Rifkin comments on that Christmas Eve, he denies it was some sort of fluke: But was it a lapse or was it an epiphany moment when what is deepest in our human nature came to expression in a most remarkable fashion? Yet what transpired in the battlefields of Flanders on Christmas Eve 1914 between tens of thousands of young men had nothing to do with original sin or productive labor. And the pleasure those men sought in each other’s company bore little resemblance to the superficial rendering of pleasure offered up by nineteenth-century utilitarians and even less to Freud’s rather pathological account of a human race preoccupied by the erotic impulse. The men at Flanders expressed a far deeper human sensibility – one that emanates from the very marrow of human existence and that transcends the portals of time and the exigencies of whatever contemporary orthodoxy happens to rule. We need only ask ourselves why we feel so heartened at what these men did. They chose to be human. And the central human quality they expressed was empathy for one another. (p. 8) I tell the story of Joannie Brochere and relate the Christmas Eve “epiphany moment” because we can “feel” what occurred in both instances, whereas simply to cite the claim with supporting scientific analysis of child development, psychological and cognitive data invites arguments, and it is so easy to move into an intellectual discussion when we are dealing with the deepest level of feeling which defies rational statement because it is the language of the heart. I began with Rifkin’s question, “Do we need a new American Dream?” He raises the question out of his sense of our present national condition and his convection that humans are empathetic at their core. As we’ve noted, he sees the American © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page10   Dream rooted in Enlightenment thought of the modern period that replaced the theological view that prevailed for the first 1600 years of the Common Era. The Enlightenment philosophers saw human reason as the apex of being human and that is what Rifkin challenges with his claim that empathy marks us rather than the ideology of faith from the feudal period or reason from the Enlightenment Age. In a word, the present is increasingly a world of growing global consciousness and we have a dream born of eighteenth-century thinking when the Age of Reason and the amazing vision of our founding fathers set us on the course to greatness. Rifkin suggests the vitriolic rhetoric, the nasty partisanship, the “take the government back” and “get government out of the way” represent a sense of panic that we are losing the American Dream and the reaction is precisely a lack of empathy which, like it or not, will increasingly mark our global civilization. That is where we have arrived and are increasingly moving: the global civilization, the empathic civilization, are understood as threatening the American Dream – and they are. In a blog posted 02/08/2010 Rifkin asks “Empathic Civilization: Why Have We Become So Uncivil?” He suggests, When we talk about civility, we are really talking about empathy: the willingness to listen to another’s point of view, to put one’s self in another’s shoes and to emotionally and cognitively experience what they are feeling and thinking. To civilize is to empathize. Below all of the fiery rhetoric and finger pointing, the acid comments and degrading personal attacks, is a deep-seated fear and mistrust of “the other” – in other words, a lack of empathy. My sense is that the fear that is spreading like a wild fire across America is due, in large part, to a seismic shift occurring in our thinking about the most cherished values of American life: our notions of freedom, equality, and democracy. In other words, what we are really discussing – underneath the surface of the political and ideological debates – are our beliefs about the basic drives and aspirations of human beings. Freedom in the nation state era has been closely associated with the ability to control one’s labor and secure one’s property, because that is the way to optimize pleasure and be happy. The classical economists argued that every individual is free to the extent he or she can pursue their individual self-interest in the material world. Freedom, in the rational mode, is the freedom to be autonomous and independent and to be an island to one’s self. To be free is to be rational, detached, acquisitive, and utilitarian. The role of government, in turn, is to safeguard private property relations and allow market forces to operate, unfettered by political constraints. The conventional American dream is personal opportunity to succeed in the marketplace. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page11   Against that “conventional American Dream,” Rifkin sets out our new global situation: The empathic approach to freedom in the emerging Biosphere Age is based on a different premise. Freedom means being able to optimize the full potential of one’s life, and the fulfilled life is one of companionship, affection, and belonging, made possible by ever deeper and more meaningful personal experiences and relationships with others – across neighborhoods, continents and the world. One is free, then, to the extent that one has been nurtured and raised in a global society that allows for empathetic opportunities at every level of human discourse. The new dream is the quality of life of humanity. Rifkin makes a strong case for the incivility of the present being the result of “what we are really discussing underneath the surface of the political and ideological debates,” – that is our beliefs about the basic drives and aspirations of human beings.” What we fail to do is carry on civil discourse. As I cited earlier in this essay, Rifkin contends that our criticism “never extends to the assumptions that underlie the dream, but only to political, economic and social forces that thwart its realization”. He knows well that what is needed is to recognize that “the dream itself is misguided, outdated, and even damaging to the American psyche and, as he writes, that “would be considered almost treasonous.” However, before we call for his head, we need to hear him further; empathy need not threaten our human existence at its best and highest. Rifkin writes, The ability to recognize oneself in the other and the other in oneself is a deeply democratizing experience. Empathy is the soul of democracy. It is an acknowledgment that each life is unique, unalienable, and deserving of equal consideration in the public square. The evolution of empathy and the evolution of democracy have gone hand in hand throughout history. The more empathic the culture, the more democratic its values and governing institutions. While apparent, it’s strange how little attention has been paid to the inextricable relationship between empathic extension and democratic expansion in the study of history and evolution of governance. Reimagining freedom, equality, and democracy from an empathic perspective has far-ranging consequences for the kind of society that we choose to live in. We would need to rethink our parenting styles, educational systems, business practices and even governance itself to reflect our empathic nature. This would constitute nothing less than a cultural revolution. No one would deny that there is merit to our long-standing ideas about freedom, equality and democracy – especially the notions of personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, and the protection of basic economic and © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page12   political rights. Still, it’s hard to deny the fact that a younger generation is beginning to broaden and deepen its sense of freedom, equality and democracy in an increasingly interconnected, interdependent and collaborative world. Perhaps what is needed is a more transparent public debate around our core views of freedom, equality and democracy. Maybe it is time to suggest a moratorium on the hyperbolic political rhetoric and incivility and begin a civil conversation around our differing views on human nature. This would offer us a moment in time to listen to each other, share our feelings, thoughts, concerns and aspirations, with the goal of trying to better understand each other’s perspectives, and hopefully find some emotional and cognitive common ground. Had I another life, that is the conversation in which I would love to be engaged. I would love to set forth the claims made by Rifkin in the preceding paragraphs and engage in a transparent public debate around our core views on freedom, equality and democracy. These are his claims: • The evolution of empathy and the evolution of democracy have gone hand in hand throughout history; • The more empathic the culture, the more democratic its values and governing institutions. Thus, the inextricable relationship between empathic extension and democratic expansion. Our problem today is not that there is a lack of conversation although perhaps conversation is too positive a term for the constant diet, 24/7, of political posturing and media anchor types’ inflamed rhetoric and betrayal of the truth. Our problem today is the lack of civil discourse, where we genuinely listen to each other, genuinely seek to hear each other and understand each other. That requires empathy. Antonio Damasio, a noted neuroscientist, has demonstrated through extensive studies of brain functioning that there is no such thing as a “cool headed reasoner.” (Descartes’ Error, 1994, cited by R. I. Benjamine in an essay on mediation). That means even as I recognize the critical necessity of civil discourse I must be aware that the human problem resides in me as well. I can become aware. I can “catch” myself. I can keep checking myself. That I must do. Further, I can be vigilant over against those who try to influence me. For example, the cable opinion shows or Talk Radio – let me mention three: Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Keith Obermann. There are many others but in the case of these three I have to ask, are they appealing to my better angels or to my demons? Are they stoking my fears, my prejudices, my darker emotions or aiding me in being civil, open and fair? Living with such awareness is the best way to be © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page13   a critical listener and not just one of the sheep being led to aberration, hate and even violence. Let me cite one example. A writer I have come to appreciate is Robert Wright who writes an occasional column in the New York Times on culture, politics and world affairs. On June 29, 2010 he wrote, “The Myth of Modern Jihad.” It concerned the response of Daniel Pipes to the Times Square bomber’s confession in which Shahzad said, “I’m going to plead guilty a hundred times over. I consider myself a mujahid, a Muslim soldier.” Pipes, I’ve discovered, is located on the right end of the political spectrum, known for his anti-Islamic position. (His father before him was an anti-Russian crusader.) Daniel Pipes is a Harvard Ph.D. and has lectured there and is presently at Stanford. His pedigree thus indicates scholarly achievement. His response to the Times Square bomber’s confession, however, bespoke his anti-Muslim bias and confirms what I stated above about how none of us escapes bias. Wright responds to Pipes’ response to the bomber’s confession: This got some fist pumps in right-wing circles, because it seemed to confirm that America faces all-out jihad, and must marshal an accordingly fierce response. On National Review Online, Daniel Pipes wrote that Shahzad’s “bald declaration” should make Americans “accept the painful fact that Islamist anger and aspirations” are the problem; we must name “Islamism as the enemy.” And, as Pipes has explained in the past, once you realize that your enemy is a bunch of Muslim holy warriors, the path forward is clear: “Violent jihad will probably continue until it is crushed by a superior military force.” At the risk of raining on Pipe’s parade: If you look at what Shahzad actually said, the upshot is way less grim. In fact, at a time when just about everyone admits that our strategy in Afghanistan isn’t working, Shahzad brings refreshing news: maybe America can win the war on terrorism without winning the war in Afghanistan. As a bonus, it turns out there’s a hopeful message not just in Shahzad’s testimony, but in Pipes’ incomprehension of it. Pipes exhibits a cognitive distortion that may be afflicting Americans broadly – not just on the right, but on the center and left as well. And seeing the distortion is the first step toward escaping it. Cognitive distortion. Wright points to it even more sharply and confirms the tendency that afflicts all; but in Pipes’ cognitive distortion Wright sees hope. Now on to the second cause for hope: Pipes’ confusion itself. For these purposes, it doesn’t matter whether Shahzad was telling the truth, because Pipes certainly thinks he was. Pipes applauds Shahzad’s “forthright © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page14   statement of purpose,” adding, “However abhorrent, this tirade does have the virtue of truthfulness.” So then why doesn’t it bother Pipes that Shahzad’s depiction of Islamic holy war as defensive counter-attack is the opposite of the depiction Pipes has peddled for years? How can he possibly hail Shahzad’s comments as confirming his worldview? It’s only human nature. Once you decide that some group is your implacable enemy, your mind gets a little warped. Virtually all incoming evidence is thereafter seen as consistent with that model. The same tendency to which he points in the case of Pipes’ reaction to Shahzad’s confession was at work in the Cold War according to Wright: This cognitive distortion reared its head in America’s previous cosmic struggle. Just about all cold war historians agree that Americans bought into the “myth of monolithic communism.” Once we decided that the communist menace was a single, vast, implacable force, we failed to appreciate, for example, tensions between Russia and China that in retrospect seem obviously important. We had our model, and we were sticking to it. Pipes has his model, and he’s sticking to it. He needn’t dismiss evidence inconsistent with it, because he can’t really see the evidence to begin with. This same tendency may now be impeding America’s ability to conduct the war on terrorism wisely…. The analogy with communism is worth dwelling on. People warned that if Vietnam fell, the dominoes would keep falling until America itself was under communist control. After all, Russia and China – the sponsors of our Vietnamese enemy – would join with the Vietnamese government to use Vietnam as a forward base if we were chased out. You know – kind of the way al Qaeda would join with a Taliban that controlled any chunk of Afghanistan to torment America. Wright ends the piece suggesting what Rifkin would affirm. I’ve been kind of hard on Pipes – in parts of this column and in an earlier column. So I’m glad to have the opportunity to emphasize that he’s just an example of the human mind at work, albeit a particularly revved up example. It’s only natural to attribute to your enemy more cohesion and menace than is in order. We used to do this with communism, and now we do it with radical Islam – and radical Muslims, for their part, do it with us. It’s a temptation we all have to fight. Maybe if we fought it as hard as we fight other enemies, we’d have fewer of them. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page15   Because this whole train of thought has been so much with me, over the past decade or so, I’ve taken note – even before Rifkin’s Empathic Civilization – of moments that have changed the face of history. And since reading Rifkin and deciding to address this matter today, I’ve clipped instances of reconciling moments when I’ve become aware of them. For example: In April-May 1940, nearly 22,000 Polish officer corps, intellectuals, professors, lawmakers, and professionals were murdered by Russia in the Forest of Katyn in Russia. The whole occasion is now being studied. (The official Russian version points to German responsibility.) That historical tragedy has been annually remembered by the Poles. Recently there has been communication between the Poles and the Russians. On February 10, 2010, Prime Minister Putin invited his colleague Donald Tusk to attend a Katyn memorial in April. The visit took place on April 7, 2010, when Putin and Tusk commemorated the 70th anniversary of the massacre. On April 10, 2010, a plane carrying the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 87 other politicians and high ranking military crashed in Smlensk killing all 96 aboard. They were on their way to attend the 70th anniversary of the massacre. That was the occasion for an op-ed column by Roger Cohen, appearing in the New York Times. Cohen wrote, My first thought, hearing of the Polish tragedy, was that history’s gyre can be of an unbearable cruelty, decapitating Poland’s elite twice in the same cursed place, Katyn. My second was to call by old friend Adam Michnik in Warsaw. Michnik, an intellectual imprisoned six times by the former puppet-Soviet Communist rulers, once told me: “Anyone who has suffered that humiliation, at some level, wants revenge. I know all the lies. I saw people being killed. But I also know that revanchism is never ending. And my obsession has been that we should have a revolution that does not resemble the French or Russian, but rather the American, in the sense that it be for something, not against something. A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise. An anti-utopian revolution. Because utopias lead to the guillotine and the gulag.” “Katyn is the place of death of the Polish intelligentsia,”Michnik, now the soul of Poland’s successful Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, said when I reached him by phone. “This is a terrible national tragedy. But in my sadness I am optimistic because Putin’s strong and wise declaration has opened a new phase in Polish-Russian relations, and because we Poles are showing we can be responsible and stable.” Michnik was referring to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s words after he decided last week to join, for the first time, Polish officials © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page16   commemorating the anniversary of the murder at Katyn of thousands of Polish officers by the Soviet Union at the start of World War II. Putin, while defending the Russian people, denounced the “cynical lies” that had hidden the truth of Katyn, said “there is no justification for these crimes” of a “totalitarian regime” and declared, “We should meet each other halfway, realizing that it is impossible to live only in the past.” The declaration, dismissed by the paleolithic Russian Communist Party, mattered less than Putin’s presence, head bowed in that forest of shame. Watching him beside Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, I thought of Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl hand-in-hand at Verdun in 1984: of such solemn moments of reconciliation has the miracle of a Europe whole and free been built. Now that Europe extends eastward toward the Urals. I thought even of Willy Brandt on his knees in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1970, a turning point on the road to a German-Polish reconciliation more miraculous in its way even than the dawning of the post-war GermanFrench alliance. And now perhaps comes the most wondrous rapprochement, the Polish-Russian. Cohen concludes the piece on a strong note of hope. So do not tell me that cruel history cannot be overcome. Do not tell me that Israelis and Palestinians can never make peace. Do not tell me that the people in the streets of Bangkok and Bishkek and Tehran dream in vain of freedom and democracy. Do not tell me that lies can stand forever. Ask the Poles. They know. Another recent event on the world scene is the attack by Israel troopers on the flotilla heading toward Gaza in an effort to break the Israeli blockade. I need not rehearse that event. I refer to it only to give another example of how empathy or the lack of it has serious consequences. A New York Times editorial just yesterday records the continuing discord between Israel and Turkey, as the flotilla was supported by Turkey and nine Turkish citizens were killed in the Israeli operation. After the Flotilla Published July 9, 2010 Nearly six weeks later, Turkey and Israel are still stoking anger over the disastrous Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship. Their posturing and threats are playing into the hands of extremists. Both countries need to find ways to cool things down. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page17   Turkey is furious about the death of eight Turks and one TurkishAmerican in the raid. Israel claims that its soldiers acted in self-defense and that the flotilla was organized by radical activists, supported by Turkey, who were bent on provoking an incident. Israel’s government has opened its own review, with outside observers, but ha resisted calls for an international investigation – the only chance of getting Turkey to answer questions. Since the raid, Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Jerusalem, halted military exercises with Israel and banned Israeli military planes from its airspace. It is now threatening to sever all diplomatic ties if Israel does not apologize, compensate the victims’ families and accept an international investigation. Israel has withdrawn its defense advisers from Turkey, warned Israelis against visiting their once solid Muslim ally and impounded the seized ships. It is refusing to pay compensation or apologize. Of course, this is a minor moment in a massive international problem. Nonetheless, one sees how hardened positions lacking the empathic dimension can create a threat to global peace and well-being for all Earth’s children. One more example. This one again creating hope coming from yesterday’s Times. The headline: “For Final, South Africans Put Past Aside.” The “Final,” of course, refers to this afternoon’s World Cup Final between The Netherlands and Spain. The editorial notes many in South Africa will cheer for the Dutch because of the long colonial connection, even though what is brought to mind by that connection is apartheid and the oppression of blacks for so long. Reading that I was reminded of Nelson Mandela and the movie Invictus. If you haven’t seen it, do so. It is an inspiring movie about the inspiring man, Mandela, who after serving a total of 27 years in prison for his engagement in winning human rights for blacks, was elected the President of South Africa in 1994, serving a five-year term and, because of his age, choosing not to run for a second term. The movie records how Mandela used the South African rugby team to unite the nation. He realized the power of sports to bring people together. In 1995 South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup and it was a powerful uniting force in South Africa, the Springboks defeating New Zealand in the final. Mandela presented the trophy to Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar, wearing a Springbok Jersey with Pienaar’s number 6 on it. That was a major step forward black and white reconciliation. Mandela had early experience with the Methodist tradition. It was, however, the Hindu Gandhi who influenced Mandela, putting him on the path of Satyagraha © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page18   – non-violent resistance – in South Africa. And Gandhi was greatly influenced by the Way of Jesus. I read from the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5: 38-48. Jesus transcends what was an advance in human relations – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – in other words, response in proportion to the injury. No taking of a life for a minor offence in other words. The Mosaic tradition had made progress to get to that point. But Jesus goes all the way – no violence. In his own ministry nonviolent resistance was his way. And the power of that non-violent resistance brought him to a crisis point. The powers that be, imperial and collaborating religious leaders condemned him to death – crucifixion. He died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. He died for a cause, the cause of God as he understood God and his people on whose behalf he brought his historical moment to a crisis. A cross, not a place of atonement for the sin of the world in my understanding but a place of integrity, authenticity, giving the seal of faithful love to his life and ministry. Therefore a symbol ever after of love and faithfulness to the end. I have on occasion confessed that for most of my ministry I did not preach on the Sermon on the Mount. I didn’t know what to do with it. My Christian faith was a salvation cult. I honestly, desperately desired people to believe and be saved. The Jesus of atonement provided salvation to be experienced here and consumated in the hereafter. I was sincere. I was passionate, and I missed the glory and wonder of Jesus. I just didn’t “get it” and I’m afraid the vast majority of the Christian church still doesn’t get it. Love your enemies, he taught. Love beyond the bounds of your clan, your tribe. Take your cue from God whose sun shines on the evil and the good, whose rain falls on the gardens of all indiscriminately. In a word, be mature as your Father in Heaven is mature. The Greek word telios is translated “perfect” but that gives the wrong impression. The word really means having attained the purpose/end for which one is created – thus perfect in the sense of full grown, mature. Talk about empathy! There you have it. The Greek word for love is agape. It is God’s love. It is a love that sees the value of another and affirms it. It is not eros – erotic love, though that is one of creation’s great gifts. It is not philia –brotherly (sisterly) love, wonderful as that is. It is agape – the love that in loving creates worth and value in the other. In the anguish of crucifixion Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” That takes my breath away! True to the end. Loving to the end. Do we need a new American Dream? Dear God, yes! In a world become a neighborhood there is only one hope of survival – loving our enemies until they become friends. Refusing violence, making an end of war. © Grand Valley State University �Do We Need a New American Drean? Richard A. Rhem Page19   I regret it took me so long to find the Way of Jesus and move ever so slightly toward maturity – the maturity that is God-like. God have mercy on us all. References: Jeremy Rifkin. The Empathic Civilization – The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. New York: The Penguin Group, 2009. Jeremy Rifkin, “Empathic Civilization: Is It Time to Replace the American Dream?” The Blog, posted February 22, 2010. Robert Wright, “The Myth of Modern Jihad,” The New York Times, June 29, 2010. © 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Community Scripture Text Matthew 5:38-48, Romans 12:1-2, 14-21 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Jeremy Rifkin. The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, 2009. Jeremy Rifkin, "Empathic Civilization: Is It Time to Replae the American Dream?" The Blog, posted February 22, 2010. Robert Wright, "The Myth of Modern Jihad,"The New York Times, June 29, 2010. 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-0-20100714 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-07-14 Title A name given to the resource Do We Need a New American Dream? 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 July 14, 2010 entitled "Do We Need a New American Dream?", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Community, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Matthew 5:38-48, Romans 12:1-2, 14-21. 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 Empathic Civilizations Human Nature as Empathic https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/570f8e1648aa116e545b48d7bfcd1f71.pdf 5844704f0970902c9ab930211f87261b PDF Text Text Whose Truth Are You Living? By What Authority? Matthew 7: 18-29; Luke 19: 45-20:8 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mothers’ Trust Ganges, Michigan August 29, 2010 I invite you to think with me about a subject that has fascinated me, even tortured me for years, indeed from youth. I was an old young man. Warped from the womb. I had been dedicated to the service of God by my father while still safe in my mother’s womb. I learned that on the day of my ordination in a letter from my father. I was a serious and thoughtful youth. Nurtured in the faith, solidly traditional, I wondered about the Christian faith – I believed it with heart and soul, but early on I worried that maybe it might be swallowed up by unbelief. Would there be a church to serve when I came of age? I did not really savor my years of education – my studies were for the purpose of being a minister – I endured the seven years of college and seminary so that finally I could get on with ministry. I never experienced normal adolescent doubt, nor one day of rebellion against authority, parental or otherwise. I came out of college and seminary with the faith with which I entered intact. I was a very conservative Dutch Reformed Calvinist. My first congregation, First Reformed of Spring Lake, was a great call but I was a bit threatened because the tenor of the congregation was more liberal than I was. During the third year there, the Reformed Church, in collaboration with the Presbyterian Church, brought out a new church school curriculum for children through adults. It was called “The Covenant Life Curriculum”. I studied the Foundation papers and taught an introductory course to an adult group. It was a bit challenging. Both the foundation papers and the introductory course dealt with the view of Scripture that informed the curriculum. About that same time the Reformed Church, through, I believe, its theological commission, wrote a report on Biblical authority. I remember so well debating the report on the floor of the Muskegon Classis. I was wary of the report. The phrase that troubled me was that “Scripture was infallible in all that it intends to teach.” The qualification “intends to teach” was saying, for example, that Scripture did not intend to teach a scientific account of creation, something that seems so obvious to me now. However at the time I saw that phrase as giving wiggle room to those who want to evade Scriptural authority. In those dark ages of my development I wanted an “infallible and inerrant” Scripture. © Grand Valley State University   �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In retrospect, I realize how large loomed the issue of authority for me – guaranteeing absolute truth. I wanted a thoroughly authoritative Word of God as the only guide for faith and practice. Again, in retrospect I realize that that need arose from a deep-seated insecurity within me. I was very defensive against any crack in the armor of biblical authority because the Bible was the Word of God on which I posited my whole ministry. From my present understanding, I can see that my faith, my message, what I felt charged to proclaim was not really an assured inward experience to share but a creedal, confessional system on which I had placed my whole life and ministry. I was dead serious about it. I believed with my whole being that at issue were heaven and hell, salvation and damnation. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself as though this were a system of belief external to my own spiritual life. I had from childhood through youth and into adulthood a meaningful piety. My experience was deep and personal but, I now realize, I relied on the external prop of a system of absolute truth rooted in an infallible and inerrant Holy Book and, interestingly, I was intelligent enough to know what I needed – a solid foundation on which to base my own spiritual life and my ministry– was not without some weak links in the system. About the same time I was debating Scriptural authority on the floor of classis and being introduced to a more progressive, or liberal view of Scripture (even though the Covenant Life Curriculum was still very mainstream conservative), I encountered a pastoral situation that shook me. Being a young pastor, I had much to do with our young people. I took them to a Bible Conference for Youth for Christ week. We bonded tightly. I loved those kids. One young lady attended Sunday School and youth groups whose parents did not attend the services and were not members of the congregation. She was one of a whole group who made her confession of faith. The next summer she went away with a friend to work in a motel with her friend’s mother. The mother was a Mormon. My dear young person came home, confused and eventually embraced the Mormon faith. I dealt with her as best I could. I gave her biblical texts. Her friend’s mother gave her texts from the Book of Mormon. I lost that struggle and was heart-broken. Strange as it may seem, that seemingly rather minor pastoral event was an epiphany for me. I, who had argued for an infallible, inerrant Word of God met my match when my dear young person met my book with her new-found book. I’m sure there were many dynamics that impinged on her decision but what I had to face up to squarely was that, if I only had a text, a rival text could neutralize it or overcome it. Put that pastoral crisis together with a fresh probing of biblical authority and I was on the way to a whole new understanding of authority in Christian experience. A long arduous journey lay ahead of me. After a year I left Spring Lake for a very conservative congregation in New Jersey where I introduced the Covenant of Life Curriculum, which met strong opposition from some of the leadership. After three years I realized I would have to dedicate years to bringing © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   that congregation around – and it could have been done – or leave to fulfill a desire I had when I graduated from seminary – to continue my studies in Europe. I decided to go on to post-graduate study and was most fortunate to be accepted at the University of Leiden and Professor Dr. Hendrikus Berkhof who became my mentor. How well I remember those years. Berkhof was a marvelous teacher. I would formulate my questions in preparation for meeting with him. I really wanted answers but he would respond to my questions with “Ja, Ja, that is the question.” I knew that was the question but I wanted the answer. Instead he left me twisting in the wind because he knew the critical issue was learning the questions, not finding the answers because in these matters of religious probing and spiritual inquiry there were no simple and easy answers. Here we are not dealing with the hard data of the natural sciences but with the probing of the spirit – or the Spirit. In this arena one must give up on easy answers, hard data, realizing one is on a journey, engaged in a quest which takes one beyond the limits of proof and verification. For four years I read and read and read, and I struggled to catch up on the education I had never received, in large part because I was not open to new insight and growth. But now I was. I was not at all certain I would have a message to preach when once this oasis of in-depth inquiry were concluded. But I had come finally to a place where I wanted to follow the inquiry with integrity wherever it led me. For me, for anyone, that is revolutionary – the threshold of open and honest inquiry. I was beginning to see how my narrow and constricted view of biblical authority kept me from an honest encounter with the larger questions of faith and life. I saw how concrete issues in the church could not be handled with the view of Scripture I had brought to my ministry. One such issue at the time was the ordination of women. I began to see how the culture of biblical times could not be simply transposed into the present and that the Scripture bore all the marks of its culture of origin. On one occasion I said to Professor Berkhof that I should write a dissertation on biblical authority in terms of my growing understanding in order to deal fruitfully with issues such as the ordination of women. He smiled and said, “Do you know what they will do to you?” He understood well how institutional religion works. And I was beginning to understand the tension between what one holds as authoritative, the source of authority – be it a sacred book or an institution, a religious community culture or tight tribal pattern, and what one senses is true and right and good in one’s own depths. All tribes, cultures, institutions evolve over time but most often at a snail’s pace and change that results is often the consequence of social upheaval that creates a crisis forcing new postures and positions on the relevant issues or views involved. And often there is some catalytic agent, some charismatic leader that creates the © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   focus and forces the change. For example, a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King. Or – Jesus! This process which happens in the broader culture in all areas of human endeavor – religion, politics, economics, social theory – and our personal response is the phenomenon on which I invite you to think with me. Thus my title: “Whose Truth are You Living? By What Authority?” and my expansion of that title: We are shaped and formed as individuals and communities, shaped and formed by parents, teachers, pastors, political leaders, cultural icons. Much of our lives we live on “borrowed truth”, “truth” declared by our “tribe,” perhaps a holy book, a religious tradition and its institutional form – maybe even by a claim of rational absolutes or the claim only reason can determine truth. That being the case, how does one come to one’s own truth? How does one emerge from one’s “dogmatic slumbers?” Have you? Or would you rather not?….There is more than enough to keep us wondering together for a hour. I had just written the chronicle of my own struggle to find my own truth, my own voice, when I received Thursday’s blog from Tomdispatch that comes several times a week. I don’t always read it but the one whose work was featured Thursday was Andrew Bacevich. I have read a couple of his books and find he speaks to me. Andrew Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. A brief bio from Wikipedia records: Bacevich graduated from West Point in 1969 and served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, serving in Vietnam from the summer of 1970 to the summer of 1971. Later he held posts in Germany, including the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, the United States, and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of Colonel in the early 1990’s. He holds a Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University, and taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins University prior to joining the faculty at Boston University in 1998. On May 13, 2007, Bacevich’s son, 1 Lt Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., was killed in action in Iraq by an improvised explosive device sough of Samarra in Salah ad DinGovernate. The younger Bacevich, 27, was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. The Tomdispath blog was the introduction to Bacevich’s latest work, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (Metropolitan Books). As I read Andrew Bacevich’s account of his evolution, it was haunting; it was very similar to what I had just written about myself. He writes, “My own education did not commence until I had reached middle age.” It happened for him at the © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Brandenburg Gate in Berlin soon after the Wall had fallen. Without going into detail here, let me just cite his own description of what was going on within him. Huddling among the scarred columns, those peddlers – almost certainly off-duty Russian soldiers awaiting redeployment home – constituted a subversive presence. They were loose ends of a story that was supposed to have ended neatly when the Berlin Wall came down. As we hurried off to find warmth and a meal, this disconcerting encounter stuck with me, and I began to entertain this possibility: that the truths I had accumulated over the previous twenty years as a professional soldier – especially truths about the Cold War and U.S. foreign policy – might not be entirely true. By temperament and upbringing, I had always taken comfort in orthodoxy. In a life spent subject to authority, deference had become a deeply ingrained habit. I found assurance in conventional wisdom. Now, I started, however hesitantly, to suspect that orthodoxy might be a sham. I began to appreciate that authentic truth is never simple and that any version of truth handed down from on high – whether by presidents, prime ministers, or archbishops – is inherently suspect. The powerful, I came to see, reveal truth only to the extent that it suits them. Even then, the truths to which they testify come wrapped in a nearly invisible filament of dissembling, deception, and duplicity. The exercise of power necessarily involves manipulation and is antithetical to candor. I came to these obvious points embarrassingly late in life. “Nothing is so astonishing in education,” the historian Henry Adams once wrote, “as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.” Until that moment I had too often confused education with accumulating and cataloging facts. In Berlin, at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate, I began to realize that I had been a naif. And so, at age 41, I set out, in a halting and haphazard fashion, to acquire a genuine education. Bacevich records a military visit to the university city of Jena in 1990. What he saw and experienced in his visits to Jena and Berlin “offered glimpses of a reality at odds with my most fundamental assumptions. Uninvited and unexpected, subversive forces had begun to infiltrate my consciousness. Bit by bit, my worldview started to crumble.” Retiring from the military, Bacevich re-evaluated the assumptions that had constituted his “truth.” Viewing the rise of the imperial drive of this nation in its policy decisions he was shocked and disillusioned by the course of our international relations over the past two decades. “What should stand in the place of such discarded convictions,” he asked, “…arriving at even an approximation of truth would entail subjecting conventional wisdom, both past and present, to sustained and searching scrutiny. Cautiously at first but with growing confidence, this I vowed to do.” He writes, © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   …Doing so meant shedding habits of conformity acquired over decades. All of my adult life I had been a company man, only dimly aware of the extent to which institutional loyalties induce myopia. Asserting independence required first recognizing the extent to which I had been socialized to accept certain things as unimpeachable. Here then were the preliminary steps essential to making education accessible. Over a period of years, a considerable store of debris had piled up. Now, it all had to go. Belatedly, I learned that more often than not what passes for conventional wisdom is simply wrong. Adopting fashionable attitudes to demonstrate one’s trustworthiness – the world of politics is flush with such people hoping thereby to qualify for inclusion in some inner circle – is akin to engaging in prostitution in exchange for promissory notes. It’s not only demeaning but downright foolhardy. My intention in bringing in Andrew Bacevich is not to deal with the content of his transformation; that is incidental to my purpose. I cite him simply as an illustration of one who experienced a shaking revolution in his worldview. He had been living by a truth that he could no longer affirm and that is a shattering experience. As he records that experience I get goose bumps because I’ve been there. I well remember times while studying in Europe that I wondered if I would ever again have a gospel to preach – or, for that matter, whether I would have anything to preach. I wondered if I might not have to sneak off into academia hoping to find a respectable teaching position. To have a deep formation of mind and heart called into question and then to press on facing the possibility that one’s whole life project was in jeopardy – that, simply stated, one might have committed one’s life to what one could no longer affirm is a scary business. It takes courage to face up to that possibility. Sometimes one comes to a point of crisis and has no other option. Sometimes it may be simply a gnawing in the soul, wondering about the mystery of human being, a hunger and thirst for finding one’s own voice, tired of living on borrowed truth, needing to be living out one’s deepest intuitions and reasons of the heart. One of the finest accounts of that personal quest is Herman Hesse’s Nobel prize winning novel, Siddhartha. In the novel, Siddhartha, a young man, leaves his family, of India’s highest caste – Brahmins – to pursue a contemplative life. After some years with a group of ascetics he leaves that path and enters a life of the flesh, fathering a son with a beautiful courtesan. But then growing restless again, bored and sickened by lust and greed, he moves on. Near despair, he comes to a river where he hears a unique sound. The sound signals the true beginning of his life – the beginning of suffering, rejection, peace and, finally, wisdom. It is a wonderful novel – a shimmering, iridescent tale of spiritual quest. Siddhartha had been introduced to the finest wisdom and knowledge of his Brahmin heritage, © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   But where were the Brahmins, the priests, the wise men, who were successful not only in having this most profound knowledge, but in experiencing it? He respected his father; he was worthy of admiration; his manner was quiet and noble. He lived a good life and was wise but Siddhartha wondered – did he live in bliss? Was he at peace? The young man concluded one must find the source within one’s own self, one must possess it. In his wanderings Siddhartha meets Gotama, the Buddha. He recognizes the wisdom of the Buddha’s enlightenment. He is everything that has been claimed for him. But after hearing his teachings he makes bold to speak with the great man and he is graciously received. Graciously and sincerely he acknowledges Gotama’s clear and cogent teachings; yet he raises the key issue for him. “Do not be angry with me, O Illustrious One,” said the young man. “I have not spoken to you thus to quarrel with you about words. You are right when you say that opinions mean little, but may I say one thing more. I did not doubt you for one moment. Not for one moment did I doubt that you were the Buddha, that you have reached the highest goal which so many thousands of Brahmins and Brahmins’ sons are striving to reach. You have done so by your own seeking, in your own way, through thought, through mediation, through knowledge, through enlightenment. You have learned nothing through teachings., and so I think, O Illustrious One, that nobody finds salvation through teachings. To nobody, O Illustrious One, can you communicate in words and teachings what happened to you in the hour of your enlightenment. The teachings of the enlightened Buddha embrace much, they teach much – how to live righteously, how to avoid evil. But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced… There you have it. Knowledge can be taught, instruction given, but the one thing Siddhartha sought cannot be taught – “the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced.” Inward illumination or the experience of enlightenment cannot be passed on. One can learn from stores of knowledge and expose oneself to the wisdom of the ages but to experience the inward illumination cannot be gotten from another – from a wise teacher or religious institution. Epiphanies happen. If we are fortunate they happen to us. They happen not in a vacuum. They do not happen in haphazard fashion to just anyone. They are the reward of those who hunger and thirst for wisdom and understanding so that one lives out of one’s own vision of the truth. And they happen most often to those in whom the spiritual thirst has been quickened in a community shaped by a vision of the truth. Further, inward illumination comes most often to one who has plumbed deeply one of the great traditions or spiritual paths. To win through to a place to stand that elicits one’s true and authentic voice is demanding. But the © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 8   reward is worth the struggle. To live from one’s true self is life’s highest achievement. The philosopher George Santayana wrote this marvelous statement: “Ultimate insights (now, that’s what we are talking about) have a tendency to undermine the orthodox approaches by which they have been reached.” Ultimate insights, or the moment of enlightenment – I think that is what Santayana is referring to. The dogmatic structures can bring one to the threshold of that moment – apart from some such structure one would not arrive there. He goes on to say the enlightened one must not then undo that structure lest one thereby deprive another from the sturdy dogmatic shoulders that have supported one in the quest for “ultimate insights” by which one transcends the dogmatic structure. It is valuable if not yet “ultimate.” Hesse’s Siddhartha may suggest the spiritual quest is a lonely way which one engages in all alone but I think that misses the author’s point. It is a story of an individual in his search encountering a variety of experiences but the central claim is that no one, no external authority, be it person or book or institution, can effect the transformation where one exclaims, ”Oh, I see!” That must happen from the inside out. But, again, if that is a solitary experience, its “moment” is prepared in the soil of tradition, of community, of family involving spiritual practice, be it meditation, corporate worship involving liturgy, ritual, sacrament, proclamation based on the founding story. That moment is variously named. Jesus spoke of being “born from above” or “born anew,” popularly spoken of as being “born again,” in his conversation with Nicodemus – a teacher of Israel, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus “by night” not wanting to advertise the fact that he was giving credibility to Jesus. Why did he come? Perhaps because, as Siddhartha expressed to the Buddha, one can be full of true and wise teachings and still be without inward illumination – that is, the experience of enlightenment when one truly “sees” with the soul. In the early years of my ministry I remember the tension – regeneration – being born again was the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian scheme of things. I could catechize, teach and preach but I could not effect that new birth. And for those who claimed that experience, it was more likely to be an assent to a body of belief which assent resulted in the person being considered a Christian. Some of the more dramatic conversions might be referred to as “born again experiences” but that was not the rule. There are branches of Christianity and in other religious traditions as well, where the emotions are targeted in an effort to bring the people to a charismatic experience or ecstasy. There are reports of such experiences as being life © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page 9   changing but the more common experience is a temporary emotional high and in some groups or communities the corporate gathering is the time for an emotional “fix.” But Jesus was not speaking of the emotions but rather an inward transformation, a spiritual birth effected by the Spirit of God. For some there is an identifiable date and place where the “lights” went on. I suspect for most who live from their own interior – their own compass of soul and intuitive vision, the transformation is gradual, one perhaps coming to realize one day that one’s whole being has been transformed. St. Paul was an example of crisis, of an unforgettable moment of encounter. For him a vision, a voice, and a 180 degree turn. But the moment of crisis did not stand alone. The very frenzy with which he was opposing the Jewish Jesus movement, the movement called “The People of the Way” was evidence that he was fighting something he sensed might be genuine, real, true. “The Hound of Heaven” had been pursuing him. The autobiographical note in his letter to the Philippians describes his life-transforming experience. He warns against those he considers false teachers and then very interestingly claims his detractors can’t stand in his shadow at their own game. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh – even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. That was the pre-Damascus-Road Paul and obviously he had been serious – a real religious “blue blood” as it were. And from other writings we know he valued all of that highly. But he had seen something else. Paul’s “conversion” was not to another religion. He was born and he died a Jew as Jesus was born and died a Jew. But that moment of illumination changed everything, as he writes. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page10   like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul, more than Jesus, gave shape to the Jewish Jesus movement that embraced non-Jews and eventually became the Christian Church. He was as passionate to proclaim his new insight as he had been to stamp out “The Way,” pre-Damascus Road. And there is no question that he was effective and his ministry bore great fruit. It is my sense, however, that he was not as effective as Jesus in reaching the heart of those who were addressed. In the Gospels we read that Jesus held the crowds with his teaching and story telling. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew writes, Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. (Matthew 7: 28-29) And as his ministry came to a climax in Jerusalem following the Palm Sunday event, Luke records: Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard. One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who is it who gave you this authority? He answered them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” They discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say,' From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us; for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem Page11   I find the juxtaposition of the citations from Matthew and Luke fascinating. The authenticity of Jesus as one speaking his own deepest truth caused the people to hear him as one having authority. Yet, of course, authority that emanated from within him for he had no power. The Temple “authorities,” scribes and elders, on the other hand had power but lacked the authority that stems from inner being. So the powerless Jesus is heard as one speaking with authority; the authorities in power are powerless with the people. What Luke records of the Temple authorities asking Jesus by what authority he carried out the prophetic protest in the Temple presents us with a typical case of those in power threatened by one who clearly has that inward strength and sense of presence that draws others to himself and is able to enlist others in a movement for change. We see it again and again in religion, in politics and government. Once in power the prime consideration too often becomes how to protect and preserve and perpetuate the position of power. And that’s the difference. A Jesus of historical record, a fictional Siddhartha are not about power. They are about effecting change in themselves and in community from egoistic ambition to compassion, to empathy, to union. That is the wonder of such transformation. One lives with a heart that embraces, marked by love. Not that one is without principle, without passion for justice, for human wellbeing. But one is wary of ideological positions that divide and blind one to a larger vision. One is able to listen, to seek deeper understanding, to empathize with the other. And one becomes sensitive to one’s own limits, biases, fears and blind spots. For much of my own journey, the early years of ministry, being born by the Spirit from above was in order to be saved. Salvation was narrowly conceived – salvation from self, sin and guilt. Salvation to find its reward in another realm in a future world. Too late, but thankfully at last, I yield to Siddhartha’s truth – the experience of enlightenment is the experience of salvation in which I find my truth, my voice. My authority is within and here and now I am at home, at peace, mantled by Grace, trusting the deep intuitions of my heart – the gift of being born from above. And so, in conclusion, whose truth are you living? By what authority? I wish I could effect in you the experience which, transcending all knowledge and teaching, would enable you to say, “Oh! I see!” and then to rest, to trust the intuitions of your heart – in a word – to be born from above. That I cannot do; no one can. Thank God I suspect most of you know the experience. And if you find yourself still wandering and wondering, hear this word from the great Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah, who speaks in God’s place _ When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29: 13) © Grand Valley State University �Whose Truth Are You Living? Richard A. Rhem References: Andrew Bacevich. Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War. Metropolitan Books, 2010. Herman Hesse. Siddhartha. Bantam Classics, 1981. © Grand Valley State University Page12   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lakeshore Interfaith Community Scripture Text Matthew 7:18-29, Luke 19:45-20:8 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Andrew Bacevich. Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War. Metropolitan Books, 2010. Herman Hesse.Siddhartha. Bantam Classics, 1981. 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-0-20100829 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-08-29 Title A name given to the resource Whose Truth Are You Living? 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 29, 2010 entitled "Whose Truth Are You Living? By What Authority?", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Community, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Matthew 7:18-29, Luke 19:45-20:8. 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 Spiritual Transformation