953 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3ae90fed5249abb54a3110b5a2363deb.pdf a74dd012d836122d37b26e9514bd0e47 PDF Text Text The Cross in History and Human Experience A Lenten Devotional Article by Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in The Church Herald The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America April 20, 1973, pp. 10-11 History unfolds under the sign of the Cross; its shadow lies over all human experience. That is a rather somber note, standing in stark contrast to the triumphant sound of the Christian proclamation. Yet it is true, and unless we reckon with that fact we will at some point in our lives encounter an experience which cannot be understood in terms of our faith. History has its darker hues, human experience its valleys of shadows, but a Christian stands undismayed before them because he looks out at the world from a vantage point from beneath the Cross. The Cross is not God’s final act, and tragedy in human life is not the final word. The brilliant revelation of triumph in Jesus’ resurrection reveals to us an ultimate victory beyond the limits of history. The splendor of that victory shines brightly, giving us courage and a solid base for hope; nevertheless, for us, that resurrection preeminently is future. To be sure, we have been raised together with Christ to newness of life, but we remain a part of the old order, and the sign over the old order is the Cross. The suffering, tragedy and death of this present age touch all of us at some point. None of us is immune to the misery that stalks the steps of the children of men. The Christian faith does not gloss over the reality of human experience. Jesus Christ never covered up the difficult, the dark, the tragic. Prior to his death, he prepared his disciples for the fact that they would very soon be severely tested. He prepared them for the fact that their dreams were about to be shattered — that their high hopes were about to be crushed — that their aspirations were to evaporate into thin air. He prepared them for his crucifixion — a crucifixion so excruciatingly painful to him that even he cried out in the midst of it, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” He prepared them for the hard realities of life. He said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” Anybody who comes into the Christian faith or into the haven of the Christian Church thinking hereby to avoid the harsh reality of human experience has not read the Gospel. In the © Grand Valley State University   �The Cross in History & Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 2   mystery of suffering, nothing makes the Christian unique except that he has the resources to overcome it, and finally to prevail. Look at the Cross. What does it really say? Look at the one who hangs there — Jesus Christ —the only life that has ever really been played out in the course of human history. Look at how he gave of himself, ministering constantly on behalf of those in need. Listen to his words of wisdom and compassion. Note his healing touch. Behold his self-forgetfulness. Watch him as he goes through the days of his life in perfect obedience to the Father. Look at him as he lives that life of righteousness, of service, of love, of obedience. And where did it end? On a cross! Jesus Christ was too good for this world! Much suffering and tragedy in the world comes through our own negligence, foolishness or irresponsibility. But there is some suffering and some tragedy in life that come precisely because a man is good. The righteous suffer. The only man who fully incarnated the love of God in human flesh ended up on a cross. That is the best commentary we have on human history and human life. Righteousness crucified. Is it not significant that he was condemned by the Roman government, by Pontius Pilate, the representative of the greatest legal system the world has ever known? Even today when one thinks of Imperial Rome, one thinks of the magnificent system of justice that it gave to the world. It was man's highest achievement in jurisprudence that impaled Jesus on a cross. But not only Rome. What about the Jewish leaders — the leaders of the one religion that had an understanding of the true God and were prepared for God to intervene in human history? It was those who stood in the line of Abraham and David and Isaiah who cried out, “Crucify him! Let his blood be on us and on our children!” There you have it. Rome and Jerusalem, the highest achievements in human justice and religion, barbarously murdering Jesus Christ on a cross. That’s what life is all about. Righteousness crucified. Love condemned. Self-sacrifice hanging on a tree. The only conclusion that one can come to is that human life is tragic — that goodness suffers — that love is crucified — that righteousness is of no avail. We may, at times, be tempted to cry out, “Why me?” But then we remember Jesus. Why him? Why anyone? Because there is a tragic element in human existence, a mystery of evil in the world that crucifies righteousness and justice and love. Jesus was too good to be in this world, and if a person tries to live as Jesus lived, he will find himself suffering as Jesus suffered. If he loves too much, or cares too much, or gives too much of himself, he may end up broken and crushed and disillusioned, looking in vain for a vindication of his human experience. Now, there is another side of the coin, of course. God can transform tragedy into triumph. God can use the excruciatingly painful experiences of life as stepping © Grand Valley State University �The Cross in History & Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 3   stones in building a beautiful life. And in the midst of human tragedy where there is submission and trust in God there comes a strength and a grace that is poured into life which makes of a person a most beautiful instrument in the hands of God. Jesus found, even in his darkest hour, that victory was possible because he was able to look at his spitting, jeering tormentors and say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He found out that the power of love can overcome the worst of human tragedy. But it was only beyond Calvary that his righteousness, his love, his obedience and his trust were vindicated. This means we may suffer all our lives and die without having the sunlight break upon our path. It means we may live in tragic circumstances all our days despite obedience and submission. The Cross is the one symbol in all human history that tells us that we cannot ask the question “Why?” Oh, we can ask it, but we cannot answer it. There is no sure justice. Tragedy is everywhere; evil rears its ugly head everywhere we turn, and the righteous suffer. And those who love are crushed. What then? Is that the last word? No, it's not. Because of Jesus, the final word is not crucifixion, but resurrection. Not the blackness, the darkness of Calvary, but the brilliant light of Easter morning. We live in hope because a life was lived that ended in tragedy, but was vindicated by a mighty act of God. Jesus, who died in trust, was vindicated by the Father in his resurrection. We, however, are still under the shadow of the Cross, because our own resurrection is in the future. Its light has already broken in on us in Jesus, the first fruits of them that sleep. Its power is already ours because his Spirit lives within us. We already have a foretaste of the victory and triumph to come. Although we still look forward to our own resurrection, the new age has invaded history in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ assures us, in the face of inexplicable human tragedy, that we can continue to trust him because beyond the limits of history is resurrection. Within history — no answer. Beyond history —the risen Christ and victory. © 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 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. 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 RA-4-19730420 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-04-20 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource The Cross in History and Human Experience Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Church School Herald Journal 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> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 20, 1973 entitled "The Cross in History and Human Experience", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 10-11. Tags: Lent, Suffering, Crucifixion, Transforming Love, Resurrection . Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Crucifixion Lent Resurrection Suffering Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3dfe3b92fb5e23a6aaab34c747b358ca.mp3 25a76c46ecd2677d6fd3cfb0c3e0c2af Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series The Sign of the Cross: The Way of Jesus Scripture Text I Peter 2:21, John 15:13 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19910303 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-03-03 Title A name given to the resource The Cruciform Life Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 3, 1991 entitled "The Cruciform Life", as part of the series "The Sign of the Cross: The Way of Jesus", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Peter 2:21, John 15:13. 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/daffb60d9add2b5e2114892221aa7583.jpg e11f158f7034651bbb8bc305eec81e65 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PR6031.A72 C78 1906 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0274 Title A name given to the resource The Cruise of the Conqueror: Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Iorio, Adrian (Designer) Description An account of the resource Binding of The Cruise of the Conqueror: Being the Further Adventures of the Motor Pirate, by G. Sidney Paternoster, published by L.C. Page & Co., c.1906. Cover title is different from the title page. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906 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/04d908cb911d9380c518d7a8107764a1.jpg e46761e5d4478e994cc15be68702d64c 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS1097 .C8 1906 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0205 Title A name given to the resource The Cynic's Word Book Description An account of the resource Binding of The Cynic's Word Book, by Ambrose Bierce, published by Doubleday, Page & Co., 1906. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906 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/5b0f45c22786a7f589102ae34c6154e2.pdf ec400072be21ff0aaf92ec564d8d0f32 PDF Text Text THE DANCE FLOOR of SEX, GENDER, ORIENTATION, and . .·G ENDERIDENTITY _Jncluding other.Important Intersections · Fall, 2013, Class Handout Edition MILTON E. FORD, Ph.D. . Liberal Studies Department _ Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies . Grand Valley State University Allendale, Michigan Copyright C 2013 Milton E. Ford �TABLE OF CONTENTS WELCOME TO TIIEDANCE FLOOR, AN INTRODUCTION .. ~- . 5 Overview ..• ·•. ·• . . . . . . • . . . . . . • . . . . . • . . .. 5 .Fluidity- . .. . . . . ~· . · ~ · . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Quemioning and Coming Out . . . ·. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 TIIE SEX, GENDER, ORIENTATION, AND GENDER IDENTITY INfERSECTIONS .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Sex Sections of the Dance Floor . . . . . . . . . . •. . •.· . . . . . . • 8 Sex Is Primarily Biological . . . ~ . . . . ~ . . . . . . . . . . 9 Female . . . . . • . . . • . . .. • . • • . · . . . . . . . . 9 Male . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Intersx .--.. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Gender Presence on the Dance Floor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Gender Is Cultural· . . . . . . . . . .. . . .· . . · . . . . . . . .·. . 13 Feminine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Masell.line·.. . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 AndrogynollS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking at the Intersections of Sex and Gender . . . ·. . . Sexual Orientation (Sexuality) as Part of the Dance . . . . . . . Orientation- . .·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·• . . . . . . . . . Bisexual . . . . . . ;.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omni/Pan Sexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesbian/Gay . . . . . . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . · . . . . 15 16 18 19 19 20 21 · AseXll81 . . ... . . . . .. . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . • . 21 Straight . . . . . . . ~ . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Queer .. ·. . . . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 22 Looking at the Intersections of Sex, Gender, and Orientation · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . 23 Gender Identity in the Dance .. ~ ·. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Gender Identity . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Transgender . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 GenderQueer . . . . . . . . . . . . · . _• . . . . . . ·. . . 27 Cisgender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . 27 Looking at the Intersections of Sex, Gender, Orientation, and Gender Idetity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 The Dance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 The Dance at Social, Cultural, and Historical Intersections . . Race/Ethnicity .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . . . . . . . Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -. . . . . . . . . . . . Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 33 33 34 · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34· Ability . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . . -. 35 .2 �. . . Religion . . . . . .. . · . . . . . . - . ·· . ~ . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Place . . . . . .·· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -~ . . . 36 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . -. .. . . . . . . . . -_. . . . . 37 Conclusion . . · . . . . . . · . ·. . .- . . . .· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ • . . 37 References . . . . . . . . ·. . . . . . . -. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 .. 38 �4 �WELCOME TO THE DANCE FLOOR, AN INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW We all live in a world where sex, g~nder, sexual orientation and gender identity are part ofour lives fulltime, meaning that they always play roles in determining how we see ourselves, how others see us, om possibilities in given situations and the like. But we vary greatly in terms of how much focused attention we give them, determined, in part, by our closeness to or distance from what are considered to be social norms. A straight, masculine male who is very comfortable being a man is much less likely to spend time thinking·about these matters than, for example, a gay, feminine male who .is uncomfortable with his.male body and perceives himself (now becoming herself) more and more to be female. All the intersecting elements involved here (sex, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity) create an interesting and certainly complex picture, but one that is critically important in understanding key elements of om own identity and experience as well as the identity and experience of others. The Dance Floor Model offers a way to sort out this complexity and to focus on the amazing diversity of identities that we and the people around us experience. But the interesting complexity does not stop there. The parts of ourselves that are made up of sex, gender, orientation and gender identity live in other powerful contexts, including race, nation, class, religion, age, ability, place and time.·All of these contexts have great power in defining our identities and have direct influence on the sex, gender, orientation and gender identity aspects of om lives. The Dance Floor Model promises nothing less than to look, one-by-one, at all of the elements mentioned above in a way that relates them to each other. And this is done in a way that "slows down" the dance for a while so that we can begin to comprehend it more clearly. . ' . . But before we jump onto the dance floor, there are three "meta" items to be considered because they are always in play and affect every aspect of the dance. Keeping them in mind as we go along will make all of the identities and experiences we look at more true to actual experience than if they were seen on their own. FLUIDITY The first of these meta-points has to do with the concept of fluidity. There is a tension between the need to have categories and labels in order to be able to discuss just about anything and the much more fluid and uniquely individual ways in which these realities are experienced as we live them. More and more people are experiencing 5 �changes in what they thought was permanent, particularly with reference to whom they are sexually attracted. But there is also fluidity the way we present ourselves and perceive ourselves·in terms of gender..While it is critical to understanding the nature of sexuality, for example, to focus clearly on the ways many people experience it, those ways·· are not presented as rigid boxes or jail cell, but as locations on a dance floor. . · Think ofthe.dance .flooras .being made·up of sections of brightly colored glass. Each•section can be defined as a way.that many people experience sex, gender, orientation and gender iden~ty. But then picture light coming from under the dance floor, shilling up through the brightly colored glass. These sections create a beautiful pattern that is already complex and meant to be inclusive. But as soon as the light leaves th~ surface ofthe dance floor, the colors blend and mix, suggesting the more fluid dance of a our actual lives. I like to think of the solid glass dance floor as the analysis that helps us .think and communicate more sharply on these topics and the light above that surface as the reality of the dance in which we ·au participate as the distinct individuals .we are. This is putting the end of the story at the beginning, but that's okay because it is important for you to see from the beginning where we are going. . Ground-breaking work in the area of fluidity was done by Lisa Diamond (2008), · whose work focuses specifically on fluidity of the sexual orientation of women who have different attractions to other women at different times in their lives. But this idea has been extended to other 8JC8S of the dance floor. LABELS The second meta-issue has to do with the very act of naming or labeling kinds of sexual orientation and·gender identity in particular. I know from listening to people talk about their sexuality and gender identity that for many thc.2 is not a word or label that works for them in describing that part of their lives. ''Queer'' goes a long way in solving that problem, but still, for many, even "queer'' sounds too labeled. I was temped to make sections on the dance floor for no-label, but I came to th~ conclusion that that would be self-defeating, because it would be creating a category. And the point I hear when people say things like "I don't label myself, I'm just me as a sexual (or non-sexual) person" is not a search for a new category. So as we are looking at the dance floor and using labels to make ·sense of certain things, it is good to include those who don't include themselves in terms of the labels being used. But rejecting labels is not a new phenomenon. Sylvia Rivera, who was part of the Stonewall Riots in 1969, says, "I'm tired of being labeled. I don't like the label transgender. I tried living with labels. I just want to be who I am. I am Sylvia Rivera Ray Rivera left home at the age of 10 to become Sylvia. And that's who I am" (Nestle et al., p. 77)~ 6 �QUESTIONING AND COMING OUT A final meta~point, for now anyway, is the matter of being out or not, or _ questioning, or perhaps ·even seeking a. cure for what seems to be emerging in one's identity, attractions, or behavior. This idea can relate to fluidity but it is not quite the same thing. Fluidity assumes the possibility of movement from the acceptance of one particular, perhaps well-defied, underst.anding of oneself to another. Questioning and coming out lulve to do.with the process~often a great stfuggle, to_understand, come to •terms with and accept wltat one is experiencing as gender identity or sexual desire (or . lack ofit). Since the whole point ofthe dance floor model is to include everyone in the ·dance, it is reasonable to assume that some of the dancers will be in process of moving toward (and therefore away from) particular intersections on that floor. This is just _another one of the real-world circumstances that keeps theoretical analysis_of sex, gender, ·orientation and gender identity from having the ultimate clarity and precision that many minds long for. Maybe the be~ way to approach this reality of the clan~ is to collSider the range (spectrum) of each category broad enough to include those who may be moving toward it but are not yet quite fully there. You are now ready to step onto the dance floor. Enjoy looking at the charts of the dance floor as we build it step by step. It is often helpful to look occasionally at the final chart·in the process of getting there. 7 �II 0 .0 ..... : Ill u 2 C a 111. z· ...0--- en ii - 0 t- . u Ill en >C Ill w en ...J Ill w :a: <( ~ LL X w Cl) a: w t- z I- (Al.31:>0S ON'v) A~07018 X3S w ...J <( :E �THE SEX, GENDER, ORIENTATION, AND -GENDER IDENTITY INTERSECTIONS SEX Female lntersex , Male SEX IS PRIMARILY BIOLOGICAL . . . . . . . From the word go, (or the first.dayof any-''Sex and Gender 101" class), sex is primarily about biology. It starts with chromosomes, the story ofXs and Ys. It's the way _ they get together or don't andwhat they set or don't set in motion in the development of an embryo and fetus and become the sexual features ofour physical bodies (FaustoSterling, 2012). Seen traditionally, sex is totally natural, biological and binary: ·female and male. · But this approach to sex is the basis for bias and privilege and it·denies other po~ibilities. In the cultures most of us are familiar with, binary systems are in force and male is treated as superior to or doJDinant over female. For privileged males and sometimes oppressed females, it is.easy for this system to be accepted as "natural." However, it raises obvious questions about equality and human rights. And even at the biological level, the binary system of male and female is brought into question by the presence ofintersex individuals, people whose bodies are not exclusively male or female. · While sex has a foundation in genetics and anatomy, in practice, -sex is highly constructed socially. When we look at gender, the main point will be that it is socially · constructed. Sometimes socially constructed gender is presented as sharply contrasting with sex, seen as totally biological. This is not a bad place to begin, and I have done so in many presentations of sex and gender, but there is compelling evidence that we see the sex of bodies as we do because of the categories and expectations created, not by biology or nature, but by culturally created ways of seeing and understanding sex (Butler, 1990). It might be helpful to think of sex (along with gender) as coming primarily from outside of ourselves. Sex is what we are given by biology and, at least to some extent, by social forces from outside ourselves. �FEMALE Unless something happened in our embryonic development to make us otherwise, we •would all be female. It is really two somethings: one is a mechanism inhibiting female development and leadjng to male·development and the other consisting of positive development in the female direction. This situation is often framed as female being the default sex,but this d~ not mean that female embryonic development is passive . (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). Being female is a physical, anatomical matter, having to do with female development at the genetic (chromosomal) level (having to do with·receiving X chromosomes), the fetal <ievelopment of ovaries and other internal ·female reproductive organs and finally the development of external female genitalia. (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). . But that being said, the femaleness of transgender females and the maleness of transgender males are important realities that enter the picture. Much more of that later. It is also important to note here that while matters.of female and male sex are primarily .biological,.there is strong social shaping of femaleness and maleness, even prior to gender considerations that are primarily social in nature• .· MALE The body becomes "maleized" when a mechanism kicks in in the embryo to begin the effects·of testosterone. But everyone has some testosterone anyway (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). Being male is a physical, anatomical matter, having to do with male development at the genetic (chromosomal) level (having to do with receiving an X and a Y chromosome), the development of fetal testes and other internal male reproductive organs and finally the development of external male genitalia (Fausto-Sterling, 2012). All this sets in motion the development of male childhood, adolescence, and adulthood and the physical traits usually associated with.maleness: a particular kind of musculature, body shape, and eventually facial hair to name a few. As with being female, there are social forces at work, along with the biological, to determine what male experience will be in a given culture. 10 �INTERSEX Sometimes the embryonic sexnali7JJtion process.is not decisively binary, often involving chromosome alignment, genetic triggering, and hormones. There are over 30 different ways in which the sexual features of a person's body can be somewhere between male and female, resulting in ambiguous features involving both (FaustoSterling, 2012; Preves, 2008). The big personal question here is what, if anything, to do about it and when. Historically.parents.and especially doctors have wanted to intervene surgically to make the baby's ·body appear to be as male or female as possible. (Everyone seems to need a clear answer to the question: .Is it a girl or a boy?) The justification for early smgery is easier socialization a boy or girl in bathrooms and showers at school and to make it po~ble for the parents to raise a girl or boy, without having to go into complicated explanations or experiences. as That can be all well and good for a few years,·and even forever IF the surgical decision that was made matches the baby's self-perception later in childhood and adolescence, and adulthood. If a person knows at a deep personal level that he is male and .bis micropenis was removed.or reconstructed shortly after birth, very complex and painful experience, including feelings toward parents and doctors, can ensue. The same is true, of course, in the female to male direction, but that is by far the less common directional choice. Ambiguity is most often "corrected" in the female direction. Although intersex people usually present themselves and live as males or females, there is a growing number of people who identify as intersex. But still an intersex person may or may ·not identify as male or female and live masculine or feminine.lives. Intersex is an important part of the exciting new sex/gender frontier. lntersex and Identity: The Contested Self by Sharon Preves (2008} and Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World by Anne Fausto-Sterling (2012) are clearly accessible sources of information on intersex. 11 �THE SEX AND GENDER INTERSECTIONS GENDER SOCIETY CULTURE ·(ROLES AND EXPRESSION) )> -r, m s: z 2 m z 0 :lJ 0 C> -< 2 0 C (/) FEMALE >-- >< ou w (!) E ..J~ (/'J INTERSEX Oc -z al~ MALE s: l> (/) (") C C zm �GENDER Feminine Masculine Androgynous GENDER IS CULTURAL. Gender is determined by human attitudes and attributes that one's culture assigns to or associates with a biological sex. Gender is not primarily a matter of biology, _like sex, but it is connected to, has its foundation in biological sex. It is a matter of social convention, often talked _about i n ~ of social-construction, concerning the meaning of a person's sex. It focuses largely·in gender presentation, gender roles, .and gendered treatment in many life circumstances. We are treating it as separate from gender identity to be considered later, which is an inner matter concerning what gender or sex a person perceives her/hlm/themselves to be. Traditionally, like sex, gender is understood to be binary: feminine and masculine. But intersex brings the.sex binary into question, the presence of androgyny questions the gender binary approach. Androgyny is 11 blend of masculine and feminine or lack of distinction between masculine and feminine characteristics in a person. as Traditionally, gender is seen to follow ''naturally" from sex. This assumption helps account for notions such as boys don't cry (not a masculine thing) and girls are emotional {a feminine thing). We are all familiar with the list or attnoutes that are considered masculine: brave, strong, assertive, active, adventurous, demanding, rough and tumble. And the attnoutes that are considered feminine: graceful, charming,·passive, agreeable, and nurturing. But in actual practice, gender is a matter of society and convention {social construction). But it is not a person's sex that determines what is considered masculine and feminine, what a particular culture has come to associate with being male or female. ' But even within a give culture, there are contradictions to the usual ~iations. We know that gender often contradicts ''natural" correlations to sex: girls or women being strong or athletic or boys or men being nurturing or graceful, for example. The presence of androgyny further suggests a spectrum rather than a gender binary. An androgynous person is one who has both masculine and feminine gender characteristics or neither. Androgyny can be considered being the middle of masculine and feminine or striking out in new directions not associated with either. 13 �Gender comes, at least initially, from outside ourselves, from what we are given by our culture. Again, gender is seen in matters of roles, presentation, and treatment in society, the standards for which 11re predetermined by one's culture. For example, if we are male, we treated with masculine gender assumptic>ns. Even if we are intersex, VIC are most often treated as the sex and therefore the gender that our bodies are considered to be most similar to. . . are · Any gender can intersect any SC}{ in lived experience. This means females can be feminine, androgynous, or masculine ..lntersex persons can be feminine, androgynous, or masculine, ind males can be feminine, androgynous, or masculine. In the combinations · other than feminine female and masculine male, the sense of gender being from the outside begins to break down, but what is external is what society considers appropriate, what is.expected and what is best for a person of a particular sex. The illustration "Sex and Gender Intersections" might:make these possibilities clearer or easier to conceph1aJi~ and think about. Professor, researcher and writer Judith Butler is a major pioneering figure in developing the concept of gender presented here, but it has become widely adopted in· gender ·studies programs and publications. Her two major works are Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion ofIdentity published in 1990, and Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex, "published in 1993. FEMININE People are ·said to be feminine if they conform to female-associated social roles, clothing, and otherwise presentthemselves in ways associated in a particular culture with females. In Western culture, these characteristics include nurturing, supportive, and helpful. These·are positive characteristics by any measure, but too often they are transformed into being subordinate to what is male and masculine. In terms of presentation, the feminine is associated with being fancy, even frilly. The feminine is often associated with dressing and acting in ways that are seen as attractive to men, or at least accentuating female attnoutes. To me it becomes obvious in such rhetoric that the feminine most often focuses riot in the inherent strengths that females possess, but how they play out in relation to males, that is in the gender binary. But there are ways in which the feminine can also be seen as a distinct set of strengths and human attnoutes associated with girls and women when given the opportunity to develop in social settings that value and practice genuine gender equality and opportunity. It is important to note that femininity is not sex-linked with being female. Because being feminine is socially constructed, it is a construction whose characteristics can be associated with male and intersex persons as well ·as with female. 14 �MASCULINE . . . ·. . . . . People are said to be Dl8SCuline if they conform to male-associated social roles and clothing and otherwise.present themselves in ways typically associated•in their culture with males. There are different forms of masculinity in Western culture, this being most ··. noteworthy, perhaps,.in the current context, in 1Il8Cho D18SCulinity. Machismo _is WMt . macho men possess or display. It both emphasi7.Cs, some would say ex&ggerates, as many aspects of humanity as possible that are considered mascull.ne while avoiding at all cost characteristics that are considered feminine. A macho man is assertive, usually serious, exudes self-confidence, wears clothing that emphasizes the male characteristics of his body,8nd would never let his wrist drop or cross his legs at the knees~ Other forms we · would find familiar could be called bllSiness-masculine and social masculine. Business masculine men pay a lot of attention to clothing, hairstyle and other forms of presentation that stay well within the bollDdaries of what is considered appropriate for males in western culture. And social masculinity is the set of behaviors and forms of selfpresentation that are considered to be most appropriate for or likely to be exhibited by males. As stated for femininity, it is important to note that masculinity is not necessarily sex-llilked. Females and·intersex persons can present in masculine ways and be considered to be masculine, but not male or not necessarily male~ ANDROGYNOUS An androgynous person presents by choosing clothing and other modes of · expression and social roles in such a way that they do not conform to what is associated with either males or females in our culture or with a blend of both to create a new gender position/location. A NOTE ON SEX AND GENDER Although they are intensely personal, one's experience with matters of sex and gender can be seen to be external to a person in origin. Sex is primarily give to a person from biology and gender is given to one by the society one was born into or lives in. In contrast, matters of sexual orientation and gender identity, which we will soon tum to, are more internal and personal, and are closely associated with the desires and 15 �self-perceptions of individuals. But we must observe from this very·introduction of the subject that th<>se desires and self-perceptions are not in isolation, but, like sex·ad gender, within social lUld historical contexts. . . . . . . . -··· . . . . Looking at the Intersections of Sex and Gender With this basic version of the Dance Floor ill front of us, it is easier than before to consider the insights and implications of these :nine pllrticular intersections. All of them are important and worthy of comment and thought, but some are more obvious and need less commentary than others. · · Masculine Males and Feminine Females These are the two intersections that traditioiially have been considered as ''natural" and are often treated that way in Western.cultures. This view sees gender as correlated directly and totally to sex and would say, "Of course males are masculine and females are feminine, or there is trouble,.gender trouble." Masculine Females and Feminine Males These two intersections help define and make clearer the distinction between sex and gender~ A masculine female is a female-bodied person who, while possibly fully claiming femaleness and for many possible reasons, prese1.1ts as masculine in clothing and/or forms of behavior. Female Masculinity by Juidith Halberstam (1998) is very helpful at this point And a feminine male is a male-bodied person \Vho, while possibly fully claiming maleness, presents as feminine in clothing and/or forms of behavior. It might be helpful here to recall the suggestion that sex and gender are external in many regards. These are the upects of ourselves that seem most given to us by biology and social convention. We are not yet considering sexual orientation (gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual straight and asexual) and gender identity _(transgender, cisgender and genderqueer), all of which might seems more internal to a person's life experience. Masculine and Feminine lntersex A masculine intersex person is one who was.born intersex but presents and acts in masculine ways. There may or may not have been surgery to make the person's sexed body conform more fully to a male body. · A feminine iritersex person is one who was born intersex but presents and acts in· feminine ways. Again, there may or may not have been surgical procedures to make the person's sexed body conform more fully to.a female body. 16 �Intersex andAndrogyny · In the pam, intersex persons, from the time of birth through the ·rest of life, lived as males or females so far as the rest of the world was concerned. More and more, intersex individuats·are claiming their intersexualityand making it part of their public as well as personal identity. There is the possibility for those individuals to present and act in androgynous ways, not identifying with masculine or feminine gender cbatacteristics. But most of the intersex people I have had the privilege of meeting or reading about present and act in either masculine or feminine ways. Female and Male and Androgyny These areas on the dance floor recognize that there are male- or female-bodied people whose gender presentation is neither masculine or feminine but a gender category that is somewhere in between, or blend, or with no reference to masculine or feminine characteristics. · 17 �en 2: 0 -u aIll en a: Ill t2 -. a: Ill a 2 Ill CD 2 0 . -~ -a:. 2 ' a: . - MASCULINE LUZ cc: 0 w ~; :::, C.f) ·C :Uw :, ~ ANDROGYNOUS 2 !:!:!en ~~ W u~ c.:, ~~ FEMININE Ill 0 ~ X w en a: w u.. z w ...J >C . <( en w Ill Ill zI- ._ w ...J <( ~ �ORIENTATION Bisexual· Omni/Pansexual Lesbian/Gay Asexual Queer Straight ORIENTATION . Sexual orientation (also called sexuality and often, as in this work, simply orientation) has to do with the sex/gender of the persons an individual is ·attracted to physically, or not, as with people who are asexual. Traditionally, sexual orientation has been taken to be "naturally" correlated with sex and gender. If a person is female, for example, she is feminine and attracted to men, by nature. But same--sex attraction has always been around, and it bas rarely escaped notice. And though sometimes positive, that notice has historically been negative. Traditionally sexual orientation bas been seen as binary: heterosexual or homosexual, straight or lesbian/gay. In lived experience, sexual orientation is on a spectrum including bisexuality, omni- or pansexuality, lesbian/gay, asexuality and straight. A person at any sex and gender intersection can experience any orientation. But more of this later. Sexual orientation, as mentioned earlier, comes primarily from inside an individual, who a person would like to be with physically. BISEXUAL The bisexual potential in all of us is suggested by the fact that in its earliest stages, the human embryo is widifferentiated for sex. 19 �A person can be called bisexual if ''they" are attracted to either/both males and females (the person own sex and members of the opposite sex). The "either/both" means that a bisexual person·might be attracted·to a person of either sex but not necessarily both at.the same time, although·it is not U11usual for that to happen. Core-identity bisexuality: For many, if not most bisexual people, bisexuality is their basic and ''fixed" orientation, as much as homosexual and heterosexuality. (But fluidity is an important underlying matter at this and many other points.) Transitional bisexuality: For some people, an understanding and claiming that they are bisexual is a step toward claiming to be gay or lesbian. A person should not be faulted for doing whatever is helpful in this often difficult transition, and undoubtedly there are many who truly believe they are bisexual at that point. (And who is to say they arenot?) · In the LGBT community at large, bisexuality as a core-identity orientation is often questioned because of the frequency of transitional bisexuality. That is one of the particular challenges of being bisexual. Bisexuality is assumed in theoretical treatment of sexuality to be as real a category.of sexual·orientation as heterosexuality and homosexuality. The concept of ''primmy bisexuality" is a Freudian concept that postulates the possibility that bisexuality is the stating point for all sexualities. "It even be that that the ambivalence displayed in the relations to the parents should be attributed entirely to bisexuality, and that it is not as I·have presented above,.developed out of identification in consequence of rivalry" (23,. n. 1) (in Butler, 1990, 59). In concluding her treatment of psychoanalysis in Gender Trouble Butler says "Within psychoanalysis, bisexuality and homosexuality are taken to be primary libidinal dispositions, and·heterosexuality is the laborious construction based upon their gradual repression" (p. 77). In Butler's work, bisexuality appears, along with homosexuality and heterosexuality, as basic possibilities in a person's sexuality. may ~or sources of help in understanding bisexuality are Fritz Klein's·'/'he Bisexual Option (2 ed.) published in 1993 and Robyn Ochs and Sarah Rowley's Getting Bi: Voices ofBisexuals Around the World (2nd ed.) published in 2009. . . OMNI- OR P ANSEXUAL The difference between onmi- pansexual (referred to from here on a pansexuality) and bisexuality is that bisexuality emphasizes the binary of possibilities whereas omni- or pansexuality breaks c_>Ut of the binary and considers all the possibilities. In recently years, there has been an expansion of the experience of bisexuality to include or to become what has previously been called pansexuality ( Ochs & Rowley. 2009). 20 �Pansexual orientation might include attraction to transgender and genderqueer people llS well as cisgender males and females (people who are born male or female and continue to be happy ·living that way)•. . . . _. . _. . .. . . . . A note 011 polyamory: Polyamory often comes up in discussions of omni- and pansexuality, but polyamory is differentfrom pansexuality. This sexuality has to do with the kind or kinds of person one is attracted to. Polyamory has to do the number of people one is in sexual relationships .with, regardless of the sex or sexuality of those people. In polyamorous relationships, the multiple relationships are all known and accepted by all . the people ~volved. . LESBIAN/GAY Lesbian and gay are the most preferred terms to use in referring to persons who . have claimed their same-sex attraction and have made that attraction an important part of their lives. · · · · · Homosexuality refers to attraction to sexual behavior with person's of one's own sex. Historically, "homosexuality'' is a 19th century word that bas been used in criminal and pathological contexts. Today the term is.most appropriate in clinical, technical or research contexts. There are generational factors involved in preferred terminology. Some younger gays and lesbians do not identify with liberation-era gays and lesbians and sometime are more comfortable with the older word, "homosexual," or the revived word "queer" to identify themselves. A note on labels: Most labels are dangerous in that they can easily limit or misrepresent the experience of those they are applied to, by oneself or others. Huge· consideration should always be given to the terminology a person is comfortable with in referring to themselves. ASEXUAL Maybe asexuality should be called a non-orientation because it refers to the "orientation" of people who are not sexually attracted to anyone. Asexualily is the more recent orientation to be claimed and identified and to have a social identity. 21 �This does not mean that all asexual people live in isolation or that they don't have intimate relationships. What is does convey is that those relationships do not have a sexual charge, at least from the perspective of the person in the relationship. asexual S_TRAIGHT Being straight (heterosexual) is being attracted to persons of the opposite sex. It is important for heterosexuality to be included in any discussion of sexual orientation for more than reasons of inclusion of the most frequent sexual orientation, and therefor the largest number of people. It is important to see heterosexuality on a spectrum of orientations rather than as the assumed ''natural" orientation in terms of which all other orientations are considered. The concept of social construction applies equally to heterosexuality _along with other sexualities. . An interesting historical note is that the word "homosexual" came into existence before the word ''heterosexual." QUEER Queer is an extremely important term from several perspectives in the conversation we are having. It is a very.strange term, as terms go, because it is one that resists definition. The queer theorist Annamarie Jacose (1996) goes so far as to say that if queer was ever to be defined in a widely agreed _upon way, we Would need a new terms to replace queer because its ambiguity and indeterminacy is critical to the meaning that the term conveys. You may have noticed on the full _dance floor chart that the word queer spans all the terms for sexual orientations, including straight, just a little. Many people whose sexuality is non-straight prefer the word queer to a more clearly defined term for many different reasons, but focusing largely on not wanting to use a label that is limited by preconceived ideas. The overlapping, just a little bit, of queer with straight is to acknowledge people's attraction to the opposite sex but as part of a larger pattern of attitudes, history and political commitments that don't fit the traditional heterosexual designation. 22 �Looking at the Intersections of Sex, Gender, and Orientation As this version of the dance floor chart makes clearer, each of the nine sex and gender intersections is intersected by the five sexual orientations. This display suggests mariy ways in•which the basic sex and gender intersections can be experienced with regard to sexual attraction or desire. • To use the female feminine space as an example again, a person who is a feminine female can have sexual attraction or desire that is bisexual, panse~ lesbian, heterosexual or asexual. If this "analysis" seems to be getting a little over the top, that was my original intention, to show the abSW'dity of the label game. But the mote I followed through with this model and presented it in classes, the multiplying possibilities seemed to be creating space and recognition of identities that usually go unacknowledged. And especially the students who identify as queer and genderqueer felt at home on the dance floor. That was all the encouragement I needed to continue with the dance floor project. At this point you might find it interesting to look at intersections/spaces on the dance floor that are particularly interesting to you or the ones that seem most challenging to understand. We will look at only few of the possibilities that are represented here. Take, for example, the masculine male square and think about the life experience represented there if he is bisexual in orientation. He would be male in body, masculine in presentation, and attracted to both/either men or women. He could be gay in.orientation, meaning he is still male in body and masculine in presentation and appearance and attracted sexually to other males. A pansexual, masculine male could be attracted to other males, females, and to people who identify as genderqueer, transgender, and who might be masculine, feminine, or androgynous in presentation and appearance. If he is asexal, he is a masculine-presenting male who does not experience sexual attraction to anyone. And if he is heterosexual, he is male and masculine and attracted to females. If going through this is too obvious, my apologies, but that would show that this approach is on a good track. If it helps you think more clearly about possible life · experience and identities, good. But I think we can leave it here for now, and come back whenthedancefloorisfullyconstructed. 23 �THE DANCE FLOOR MODEL OF SEX. GENDER. ORIENTATIOII. AN D GENDE.R IDENTITY GENDER SOCIETY C·ULTURE (ROLES AND EXPRESSION) ,,m ~ z zm l> z 0 ::0 l> 0 en G> -< z C C 0 C ~ ' n zm CJ) FEMALE >-- >< ou w _.~ (!)~ INTERSEX en m~ . Qo -z MALE This chart suggests the complex interactions of sex, gender, orientation and gener identity on the .,dance floor" of a person's sex/gender/orientation identity. Copyright © 2013 by Milton E. Ford �GENDER IDENTITY Transgender GenderQueer · Cisgender GENDER IDENTITY Gender identity has traditionally been.assumed to correlate "naturally" with one's sex and gender. · · ·· · ·· · · Gender identity is still usually asswned to be binary: transgender or cisgender (meaning not-transgender). · But in the lived experience of many people, gender identity does not conform neatly to gender binaries. In other words, gender identity is often outside the ~e/masculine, female/feminine sex and gender binary. Those who identify outside the sex and gender binary often claim genderqueer as their gender identity. .· As does sexual orientation, gender identity seems to come from inside: it is who a person sees themselves as being, in terms of sex and gender. Another note on sex and gender: Sex and gender often blur, and in lived lives their separation breaks down, especially in the arena of gender identity. More will follow in considering transgender. Gender Identity as a Separate Category from Gender . Not all discussions of gender make a distinction between gender and gender identity. But the Dance Floor approach does emphasize important factors in the way people often perceive their identities. Here, gender identity refers to a person's perception of themselves as transgender, genderqueer, or cisgender as distinct from the categories of feminine, androgynous and masculine genders by which society structures expected gender roles and presentations. Serena Nanda (2000), in her Gender Diversity: Cross Cultural Variations seems to assume this distinction when she says: "While cultural images of gender diversity influence how individuals see themselves, there are also important differences in sex/gender identity, how one experiences oneself as and sexed and gendered person" (p. 5). 25 �TRANSGENDER . The word transgender is used most frequently today to refer to a person who has an inner knowledge, feeling and awareness that the sex they were assigned at birth is not the sex they really are .and who have or are planning to transition to the sex/gender they know themselves to be. · · · Transgender is the most general and most-often preferred .designation.for a birth male or female who lives and presents full-times as the opposite sex/gender, whether or not sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) .is involv~ . . . . . The word ''transsexual" is sometimes used as a more technical word to refer to a . transgender person who has undergone SRS or would like to. But "transsexual" seems to be falling out of favor with the transgender community because SRS is becoming less of an issue with many trans peopl~. Many would.say something like the shape of their lives is more important than the shape of their body-parts. But for many the presence of "foreign" body-parts is distressing to the point of necessity for surgery. This is a very personal and intimate matter, and the term transgender is useful in leaving·genital anatomy a private matter. . . Birth females who transition to being male are referred to FTM (female to male) and birth males who transition to being females are referred to MTF (male to female). Note that this language, while the language of sex, refers to gender just as fully . . The Transgender Umbrella In addition to the sense in which we have been looking at it, "transgender" is also used to refer to other people whose lives involve crossing or blending the male/female gender divide. (Note how language falls apart at times!) These people include crossdressers and drag kings and queens. Cross-dressers are men or women who, from time to time and circumstance to circumstance, dress in clothing of the opposite sex. Most often cross-dressers are heterosexual in their attractions and cisgender in their gender identity except for the one point of enjoying cross-dressing. The attempt here is usually to look like an ordinary person of the opposite sex. (The old word for this, now to be avoided, is "transvestism/transvestites.'') Drag queens and kings are people, often gays and lesbians, but not always, who dress in the clothing of the other sex, o ~ if not usually, in exaggerated ways, usually for the purpose of entertaining. But sometimes the dressing in drag is just for the fun of it, for a party or a parade, for example. 26 �GENDERQUEER Genderqueer is th~ reality that makes it necessary to put the term "gender divide" in quotation marks. People who claim the term genderqueer as their gender identity often say that their gender identity_is not.either male or female, but somewhat in between or ·experiencing ~ of both, or neither. · · Genderqueer people often associate themselves with the transgender community because they have transitioned from an assigned life as a male or female to something else. · -. .; . . . Whereas transgender men and transgender women live lives within the male/female binary (more or less), a genderqueer person lives outside that binary. In the Dance Floor Model, the line between Transgender and Gemderqueer is broken because of the common experience of individuals in these areas. Genny Beemyn and Susan Rankin discuss this closeness by developing the terminology of"female-todifferent-gender'' and "female-to-different-gender" (2011. p. ix). Since this is a change of gender identities (even thought the target gender is not ''the other gender," it makes sense to consider it a transgender experience. - CISGENDER Because we have·a gender identity called transgender, it is forttmate that we now have a word that refers to non-transgender without the use of a non- term. That word is cisgender (S~rano. p. 33). Cisgender people are those who are comfortable and feel right about living as the sex they were assigned at birth. _The prefix "cis" is Latin for "on the same side." It is accurate to say that for cisgender people, their knowledge of their sex/gender is on the same side of the gender binary as their bodies and the sex they were assigned at birth. For transgender people, their gender identity is across (trans) on the other side of the gender binary. 27 �Looking at the Intersections of Sex, Gender, Orientation, and Gender Identity One day in class I said that I had not done the math to see how many places there are on this dance floor. Fiveseconds later a student said, "one hundred and thirty two." Somehow hearing that number made this approach seem way too quantitative, too precise. And.that's not the point. 'The point is to be inclusive and to provide a way of looking at the incredibly beautiful diversity created by sex, gender, orientation and gender i<ientity possibilities. And that number also misses the wide variety of lived experience represented by each segment of the dance floor. Out of concern for there being recognition of everyone on the dance floor, we will focus for a little while on the areas where the non-binary (for lack of a term) segments of our grid intersect. We will look at a few of those identities as they appear in the literature of qualitative research in the areas oftransgender/genderqueer, intersex, and androgyny, voices from lived experience on the dance floor. Two books that are particularly great sources for these experiences are Genderqueer: voices.from beyond the ·sexual binary, edited by Joan Nestle, Clare Howell and Riki Wilchins published in 2002 and Gender Outlaws: the next generation edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman, published in 2010. RAVEN KALDERA presents himself as an intersex person who lives now as an androgynous female-to-male (FTM) male whose wife is male-to-female transsexual (Nestle et al., 2002). He says " ... I was raised as agirl and now live socially as a man, that I've seen both sides of that line and know its transience, its fragility, its vagueness" (p. 156). But Kaldera's identity complexity extends still further. He says " .. .I find myself on still another fence, that between the fledgling transgender liberation movement and the barely-out-of-the-shell intersex rights movement. As someone who is inarguably both, I find myself nmning back and forth ... " (p. 160). At one point he calls himself "a masculine androgyne" (p. 159). Thus his current identity and experience are at the intersections of intersex and male, androgynous toward the masculine, heterosexual, and transgender. To note and discuss: Although male and intersex are both considered to be in the sex area, until very recently intersex people have been more or less forced by society to live as either male or female and male or female have been the way they identified. Recently the intersex movement has made it possible for intersex persons to choose to identify as intersex. This is an unsupported generali7Jltion, but from my experience, or I could say ''historically," intersex persons usually assume male or female, masculine or feminine as part of their identities. But this is a fast moving area where many courageous gender pioneers are living and working. And there are already many exceptions to my · generalization. 28 �To note and discuss: Raven talks about herself as both intersex and transgender. . Those are two very different things. He is intersex because he was born with biological ambiguity·in the sex characteristics of his physical body~.He is transgender because his first socialization was as a female and he transitioned later from female to male in his gender identity. To note and discuss: It is always appropriate to refer to a person by the pronouns that match their self-perception and presentation. But what is the respectful and informed way to use pronouns iD talking about that person's history? Like many others, I follow the practice of using the pronouns that are appropriate in the present to refer to the person throughout their history and development The rational for this practice is that it validates the "reality" and '"truth" of the identity that the individual has developed and transitioned into, often.at great social, emotional and financial cost Lionheart's experience points out another variation at all four intersections, but this time focusing on the orientation implications (Nestle et al., 2002). · "Years ago," Lionheart says, "I thought that since I was such a girl-girl thatl couldn't be a lesbian, because lesbians were so much more masculine than I was. But I found out there was a name for me, that was femme. It was incredibly liberating, and I loved being a femme, and I loved loving butch womyn" (p. 237). So far, what she says focuses on her self understanding as a leabian. But what follows introduces an important complexity that is reality in the lives of many lesbians. "What I didn't know was that some of the womyn I was loving were not womyn. Or not 'just' womyn. I didn't know womyn could be .m en" (p. 237). And this realization made a difference in Lionheart' s perception of herself. "I thought male was a dirty word. I thought wanting men meant I wasn't a lesbian anymore. How could I have known many lesbians were really men?'' (p. 237). To note and discuss: In Lionheart's observation about her discovery that some lesbians were masculine to the point that she says that some "womyn could [actually] be men" (p. 23 7), she is pointing to the line between very masculine butch lesbians and transmen at a point in their development when they still considered themselves female and lesbian. History plays an important role in this as well as gender identity itself. Until quite recently, and even today, transitioning from one sex or gender to the other is costly in many ways and not available to everyone. Therefore an individual who under ideal circumstances might transition from being a lesbian to being a man who is still attracted to women has to be content in the role of a very butch lesbian. This is very delicate territory, because the role and experience of very masculine butch lesbians is a wellestablished and authentic role and identity in itself. ROBIN MALTZ puts it succinctly when she says, "Some of the butches in our Internet and real-life communities, especially the young butches, are transitioning from stone butch (which.means a very masculine but not male-identified butch, most often a sexual top) to transgendered men or ITMs" (Nestle et al., 2002. p. 162). 29 �FRANCISCO FERNANDEZlikes the ''huge messy mix of bodies and genders" (Bornestein & Bergman, p.133). Speaking of himself, he says, ''If my gender is 'boy' and my organs are 'female' ·and my pronouns are 'male,' then what am I? For me, being aware of this chaos is freeing .... Instead of looking to the binaries for answers male/female, femininity/masculinity, sex/gender - I've decided to take my body back for myself - for me to shape, .show off, love and dress and play. But above all, for me to llB.Dle" (p. 133)~ A. P. and LUIS are performers who identify themselves in the following ways: · "L: I'm Luis; a queer,>biracial, Chicano/white, trasnsgender, FfM. A: And I'm A.P. I'm a mixed black/white, Jewish, bisexual, genderqueer femme who's sometimes a boy'' (Bomestein & Bergman, 2010. p. -158). L: ... "What I like about.our relationship is really being seen as all ofmy identities at once" (p.159)~ ESME RODRIGUEZ articulates clearly an identity that is outside the binaries (Bomestein & Bergman. 2010). "Some ofmy identity markers are genderqueer, gender variant, trans, drag queen, boi and gurl. While I have repeatedly considered transitioning from F to M, I feel that being perceived as male would not "cure" any of my gender variant thought or feelings. My gender identities do not fit the traditional binary categories, So, instead, I choose to navigate·a kaleidoscope of uncharted territories, outside the gender binary" (p. 166). Esme further states, "Most people strive to find comfort and stability in their identities. I am most comfortable wading amongst the instabilities and inconsistencies of my genders" (p. 167). SASSAFRAS LOWERY (Bornstein & B ~ 2010).states, "I learned gender on the streets, in youth centers, and in the self-created genderfucking queer gutterpunk families I joined when no one else wanted me. In my world gender was · something to be done, not studied. It was something to explore with no limits: a free-fall toward fabulous" (p. 198). 30 �THE DANCE ' These numerous intersections suggest the great complexity and variety of way in which sex, orientation, gender and gender identity are experienced.· The presence of all these intersections is intended to suggest a dance floor rather than boxes defined by labels. The intersections make room for everyone on the dance floor.. They suggest fluidity rather than rigidity in these matten.. Picture the sections of the dance .floor as colored glass and lights shining up through them: Once the light leaves the floor, it blends, suggesting fluidity. The dance floor pattern of intersections "de-privileges" traditionally privileged sex, orientation, gender and gender identity categories but sees them as fully present possibilities among all the others. 31 �THE DANCE FLOOR MC,DEL OF SEX. GENDER. ORIENTATION. AND GENDER IDENTITY WITH OTHER S I GNIFICANT INTERSECTIONS. ~~ ~~~<v GENDER r-,."<; &~ C:J~<;J<,':,,4"~ ·. ~ ~ ~~ ~~<lil~~:~,~]ir#?'6}. O'' . ' V SOCIETY CULTURE ~~4." ,o ...;i[ti\;\A,.~;:;' Q (ROLES AND EXPRESSION) ~(C' )> ~~~~ '~}.y·~~-1,~:~< u' . «'_i. ~1, . ~ T(/ / ~/Q ~< ril ~& Q-s').- :-Y,>-. ~ ~ ~ s:2 z m ~ 0 s:)> en n G) C g 2 ~ r- m en FEMALE >- > >< ou w (!)~ en _J~ . INTERSEX Qc -z al~ MALE This chart suggests the complex interactions of sex, gender, orientation and gener identity on the "dance floor" of a person's sex/gender/orientation identity, with other significant intersections. Copyright© 2013 by Milton E. Ford �THE DANCEAT SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND . : HISTORIALINTERSECTIONS .·: . ._ . . . . . . . . . . Up to this point, we have focused our disc~i<>n and exploration directly on · matters pertaining to sex, gender, orientation and gender.identity. But ill lived experience, . there are many other aspects of human existence that have a direct bearing on the way people experience sex, gende.., orientation and gender identity. Race, nation, class, age, ability, place, time and religion all <:onstitute major intersections with the intersections of sex, gender, orientation and gender identity. I am only able to introduce these aspects of identity here. There are volumes :more to be said. · · RACE/ETHNICITY · Race and ethnicity, the group we identity with through skin color and cultmal patterns and expectations, bas a huge impact on how we experience our sex, gender, orientation and gender identity. Race/ethnicity shapes our experience at many levels. That is.where many of the traditions that define and ernich our lives come from. With regardto sex, gender, orientation and gender identity, it created a kind of template of expectation we either comply with and are rewarded accordingly or contradict in some significant way, often with significant consequences. Because of the 4eptb and complexity of these aspects of experience, I am able only to introduce it here and stress the influence of race/ethnicity_on LOBTQ experience. NATION Nation is included as an intersection distinct from race and ethnicity to recognize the power of political nationality in the identity and experience of manypeople in relation to sex, orientation, gender and gender identity. At the most basic levels, such as laws controlling marriage, the legal realities effecting gender-non-conforming people reside primarily in national laws or laws of lower political entities, such as states and provinces, empowered by nations to legislate on matters related to sex, gender and orientation. The story of the slow process of the gaining of the rights of LGBTQ persons, beginning with the right simply to remain among the living, bas be largely nation-bynation, and remains that way today, as seen dramatically in marriage laws and laws determining the protections or punishment of LGBTQ persons. 33 �CLASS In the United States, we often like to think that there is no class distinction or that class doesn't exist. We call it other things, like socio-economic status, but most basically it is best understood as class. Certainly it has.to do with income and social standing, but also other factors such as education and the location of one's home. Cla.,s is largely about privilege and the lack of. At 011e end of the ·scale are the wealthy who have large sums of money at their disposal and the other end is poverty where paying for the absolute ·necessities of daily existence is a challenge. In terms of sex, gender, orientation and gender identity, class affects the possibilities. The higher one is on the social scale, the more time one is likely to have to explore a ·range of relationships. To some ·extent, money can buy privacy and anonimnity. Poverty or limited resources tend to keep one focused on the necessities of life. Transgender people often experience limitations to what they would like to do in terms of transitioning, because of the high costs involved. · And there can be a moral factor related to class. Privileged classes tend to be more socially pro~ive and accepting of sex and gender diversity, whereas lower class structures can tend to be more restrictive of the behavior of its members. AGE My being of advanced years gives me a helpful perspective on this intersection. I have to factor the age difference between my students and me in the many things I say in class about sex, gender, orientation and gender identity experience. An individual's age is the way time and histmy register on individual experience. OR the difference in attitude toward sexual matters has a lot to do with the history a person has experienced or·not experienced. It is interesting to compare three groups of gay and lesbian persons in this regard: those who came of age (meaning were in their teens and early twenties) prior to Stonewall ( 1969), after Stonewall,.and today. People who are .now in their 70s and older, grew up when being gay could get you arrested.or killed. That has not changed completely, but then it was common. There was not public gay/lesbian life for most people. People in their 60s came of age in a time of gay liberation and protest. Gay/Lesbian life was now public, but combative, at least to some extent People in their 40s came of age when Queer Studies was being invented in the east and west coast universities and gay rights were beginning to be taken more seriously. Gay and lesbian experience was becoming more open, talked about and "studied." People in their 30s came of age when political action for marriage equality was beginning to bear results. People coming of age now still face discrimination at many levels and life is not what it 34 �should be, but that "should be" life is in focus and there is real hope that most of their liv~ can be lived within legal and mostly accepted norms. Transgender and genderqueer experiences have their own histories, making experience and mindsets for different age groups dramatically different All·those contexts for coming of age create mindsets that carry forward into life. Therefore the age of a person has a lot to do with the dance they dance on the sex, gender, orientation, and gender identity dance floor. ABILITY A person's physical and mental abilities play important roles in their lives and identities as LGBTQ individuals. Perhaps the greatest ha7.8l'd when thinking about persons with disabilities is falling into one-dimensional thjnlcjng. (This, of course, is the major ha7.8l'd in considering individuals in terms of any category or label.) Persons with disabilities are dancers too, because there are many, many ways to dance. RELIGION · In the experience of many LGBTQ people, religion represents a most challenging intersection. But from the beginning of these observations, I want to stress that almost anything that can be said about religion cannot be generalized to all religions, especially with regard to LGBTQ experience. Many LGBTQ people find support and full inclusion in religious communities. But it still seems clear that the experience of more LGBTQ people with religion in the United States is a negative one, although there are signs that this could be changing for the better. Many religious traditions have teachings that, historically anyway, have been understood to forbid gender-variant practices, making LGBTQ life impossible as a public identity within those religious traditions. Historically, punishment by death bas been practiced, and still is in some religions.of the world. But signs of hope are seen intwo very specific ways in the closing of the Exodus Ministry which had been dedicated to the curing of homosexuality through faith and prayer and Pope Francis' recent comment that if a person is gay and serves the Lord, who is he (the Pope) to judge. Religion is as powerful as it is in many communities and lives because of the ultimate meaning and significance it plays. When something as individual-feeling as sexual orientation or gender identity arises in conflict with that internalized meaning and significance, deep inner conflict is often the result To be members in good standing in many religious communities, members cannot act openly on gender-variant feelings or other aspects of the selves they perceive themselves to be. Or if they do act on their 35 �feelings, they are often. forced by inner and ·social pressures to deny to themselves and others the reality and meaning of those feelings and acts. PLACE Place is somewlun. different from the intersections we have previously looked at because place, unlike race, class, age, ability and religion, does not represent an oppressed identity, ~t leamnot in the most obvious sense oftbat term.But it can be seen to operate as an intersection of identity and experience·because where one is has a lot to do with the way one is treated and the opportunity one had or lacks. Frequently when I ask a question like, ~'What do you think about the ease or difficulty of coming out today?'' the discussion often begins with a statement like, "It all depends on where you are." Perhaps it is easiest to identify as LGBTQ in one of the gay Meccas of the United States or the world. In the United States, the list would include areas of New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Key West, and Provincetown. Also included could be areas of Chicago, Miami, and other major cities of the United Stat.es. On the world stage, the LGBTQ hot spots include Sidney, Paris, Berlin, and Amsterdam. · Many of these locations are major cities with great population density, meaning that there is a greater likelihood -for there to be a larger number of LGBTQ people living in•ciose proximity than in areas of less population density. But something that is less obvious is that identity groups within the LGBTQ population are likely to be more clearly delineated in big cities than in small towns and the countryside. I remember how amazed I was on my first visit to the LGBT Center in Chelsea in New York City and picked up the weekly activities paper and found over fifty organizations representing various communities within LGBTQdom. And then there are the gay ghettos in most large cities_in the US. For various reasons, gays, lesbians and other queers tend to buy or rent living space near each other in what are considered the poorer areas of a city. Can we all say "gentrification"? Gays are not the only ones responsible for it, but it is a frequent pattern thatwhen gays start congregating for property ownership in an area of a city, properties are improved and the values go up. And it is only accurate to acknowledge that there are both up and down sides to this phenomenon. Rural America is a different scene for LGBTQ people. It doesn't niean that we aren't there; it just means that there are fewer of us in any one place, and the result can be a sense of isolation. 36 �So for all the sex, gender, orientation and gender identity intersections we have looked at, the location of the lives.represented by those intersections plays a large role in the quality of those lives. TIME Here we·are taking time to mean nothing less·than history, another huge perspective in itself..But if we ·are to get anything approaching a full picture of sex, · gender, orientation and gender identity, .we have to factor in the time dimension. It is easy, almost "natural," to assume the present when considering most things we think about. After .all, that is where we live. But most socially related experience is what it is because of its place in time. Sex, gender, orientation arid gender identity all have histories, and those histories have produced the way we experience those.aspects of life today. Until we really think about it, we are likely to assume that the past is the same as today only earlier. It is easiest to grasp the difference in the world of technology. Imagine the Pope tweeting his condolences to the victims of the Boston.Marathon bombing, even a year or two ago. Closer to our topic, .imagine a dinner conversation I had last night in which a late twenties something man said that of the eight couples he was close to in college, seven had married and the only couple that was still together was the one that had not married. Even younger students in my cl~ses say.that it is not at all unusual for their high school·friends to have been married·and divorced, sometimes more than once. The point is that not too many decades ago divorce was something of a scandal, a family's deep dark secret Time changes things. And in the sex, gender, orientation, and gender identity world, almost anything concrete I could say is likely to date.what I am.writing. But at the time of this writing, thirteen states and the D1strict of Columbia recognize the legality of same-sex marriage. Where does that issue stand as you are reading this? The first sex change surgeries (in the Western world anyway) were the 1950s. Now they are a part of many people's life experience, not to suggest that it is easy by any stretch of the imagination. But it is here. Before the Stonewall "riot" in 1969 that now formally marks the beginning of "gay liberation," when you went to gay bar it was prudent to take your toothbrush with you because the likelihood of spending the night in jail was a very real possibility. Just prior to that, the men who were the pioneers in the effort to.create protection for gay men.were typically married to women, because the dominant and power social possibilities and expectations. CONCLUSION My goal has been to present sex, gender, orientation, and gender identity in all their own intersections and in intersection with other aspects of life to make it more obvious than it may have been before that there is room for everyone on the dance floor and that the diversity among the dancers is vast and beautiful. 37 �References (and additional resomces for Sex, Gender, Orientation, and Gender Identity) Beemyn, G &, S. (2011 ). The Lives ofTransgender People. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. Bornstein, K.. (1994). Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us. New York, NY: Routledge. Bol'IlStein, K & Bergman, B. S. (20 I 0). Gender Outlaws, The Next Generation. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press. Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion ofIdentity. New York, NY: Routledge. 1 · · . Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex." New York, NY: Routledge. Diamond, L (2008). Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire. Cambridget MA: Harvard University Press. Dover, H. (1989). Gender Blending: Con.fronting the Limits ofDuality. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Fausto-Sterling, A. (2012). Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World New York, NY: Routledge. Garber, M. (2000). Bisexuality and the Eroticism ofEveryday Life. New York, NY: Routledge. Halberstam, J. (1998). Female Masculinity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Herdt, 0., & Polen-Petit, N. C. (2014). Human Sexuality: Self, Society, and Culture. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. · Isay, R. A. (1996). Becoming Gay: The Journey to Self-Acceptance. New York, NY: HemyHoll Jacose, A. (1996). Queer Theory: An Introduction. New York, NY: New York University Press. 38 �Katz, J~ N. (2007). The Invention ofHeteroseruality. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Klein, F. (1993). The Biserual Option (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Harrington Park Press. Nanda, s~ (2000). Gender Diversity: Crosscultural Variations. Long Grove. IL: Waveland Press. · · ·· Nestle, J.~ Howell, C., & Wilchins, R. (Eds.). (2002). Genderqueer: Voices from beyond the Sexual Binary. New York, NY: Alyson Books.. . . . . Ochs, R., & Rowley, s~ E. (Eds.). (2009). Getting Bi.· Voices ofBisexuals Around the World (2nd ed)~ Boston, MA: Bisexual Reso\D'CC Center. · · Preves, S. E. (2003). lntersex .andldentity: The Contested Self. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers . University Press. · Serano, J. (2007) ..Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman ofSexism and the Scapegoating ofFemininity. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press. Stryker, S. (2008). Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press. Thurber, S. (2005). The End ofGe~r: A Psychological Autopsy. New York, NY: Routledge. Troiden, R.R. (1988). Gay and Lesbian Identity: A Sociological Analysis. Dix Hills, NY: General Hall. 39 � 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 GVSU Sexuality and Gender Flyers Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Rainbow Resource Center Women and Gender Studies Department Women's Commission Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity Description An account of the resource Digitized posters, flyers, event notices, and other materials relating to gender expression and sexuality at Grand Valley State University, with materials spanning from 1974 to 2019. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974/2019 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digitized from collections at the Rainbow Resource Center (formerly the Milton E. Ford LGBT Resource Center), Women and Gender Studies Department, Women's Commission, and Gayle R. Davis Center for Women and Gender Equity. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Gender identity Gender expression Sexual orientation Women's studies Queer theory Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-09 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-09_SGF_LGBTQ_2013_The-Dance-Floor-of-Sex-Gender-Orientation-and-Gender-Identity_Class-Handout.pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013 Title A name given to the resource The Dance Floor of Sex, Gender, Orientation, and Gender Identity Including other Important Intersections Description An account of the resource A class handout for Fall 2013. Created by Milton E. Ford. 40 pages in black and white with graphs. Subject The topic of the resource Sexual minorities Community centers Intersectionality (Sociology) Sex Gender identity Gender expression Sexual orientation Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived The Rainbow Resource Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The Rainbow Resource Center https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/636432dce5fa5cf299a6e1de99c13bdb.mp3 d3aa022217d2fd8eb67964590329da7c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/17f24f5c8e46bfbeb4440dc318e5a6eb.pdf 173a56640f8614d85fc7d85400ce317a PDF Text Text The Dangerous Memory of Jesus Text: I Corinthians 11:23-26 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 29, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon Did you recognize the Eucharist liturgy this morning? Well, it may have sounded familiar, but you have not heard such a liturgical expression before because I wrote it for this service. The content is now new; it is what we believe about Jesus in the context of his life and death. However, traditional liturgical forms do not reflect so explicitly what it is we intend to remember here when we come to the Lord’s Table. Forms used here for a long time have not expressed the traditional substitutionary atonement idea. Nonetheless, they have been less than clear about the reason we continue this sacramental practice, which is in order to retrieve the dangerous memory of Jesus. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, the 11th chapter, the lesson that is listed, he quotes the tradition that says to break the bread in remembrance of Jesus and to take the cup in remembrance of Jesus, and we have come for two thousand years as a community in one shape or another around the table with bread and the cup in an act of remembering or retrieving. The liturgy is a conservative restraint on the Church. The liturgy is the most conservative dimension of the Church. One ought not to fuss and tinker with the liturgy like I did. It is not a wise practice. The liturgy keeps us focused on the center. Preachers may be heretics and sermons may be wildly out of line, but as long as the liturgy is intact, not a great deal of harm is done. And there is something to be said for that. There is a positive value in it. John A. T. Robinson, who was the wildly heretical bishop of the Church of England, wrote his book in 1961, Honest to God, was nonetheless imbued with the Anglican Prayer Book, and in the Anglican Communion you can change anything, but don’t mess with the Prayer Book. John A. T. Robinson even defended that, saying that it connects us as a present community with that community that has spanned two thousand years. If you happen to come from the Episcopal Anglican communion or the Roman Catholic communion or high Lutheran communion, then liturgy has been the heart and center, it has been very important, and you know that that is where the weight is laid. I, having not come from those traditions, although I am sorry that I did not, because I have had to learn it all on my own later on, even to develop the Anglican sniff, you know? But, © Grand Valley State University   �Dangerous Memory of Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 2   if you don’t come from that tradition, as I don’t, then you might be tempted sometimes to call those high liturgical traditions liturgical fundamentalists, if you want to taunt a bit. But, nonetheless, liturgy is important and one ought not to play with it. I rather boldly this morning wrote it the way I hoped it would incite us to remember Jesus. What I have written here you have heard me say over and over again. It is not that the content of it is new; it is just that you never had it in this context. We have not had atonement theology in the liturgy for a long time around here. But, we have used forms that were not as clear about what we were calling people to remember as the liturgy did this morning. I did that on purpose, even though I value the liturgical tradition. Liturgy needs continually to be updated, although there are those who can get picky about it. Every once in a while I am challenged by some liturgical use here, and I am accused of having liturgy which is dissonant with the sermons I preach. In fact, there are those who say that I have only gotten away with what I have gotten away with theologically because the liturgy stayed intact and there was a sense of continuity and a feel that is sort of the same. So, I perhaps signed my death warrant this morning in making the liturgical statement a statement of what has been preached here for a long time - the dangerous memory of Jesus. As I said, people can get picky about it. Language shapes. Language is terribly important, and we have come to see that we have had to change some forms. For example, the “Our Father,” which for some has been an almost irredeemable barrier to communion with God, to some women, for example. Those are battles that are fought in the Church, liturgical battles, language battles, language with hymns. We have gone through all of that. And if one can approach it with some sanity and maturity, then one can go through that and recognize that all liturgy, hymns and prayers are really poetry, that they ought not to be taken literally, and if they are not taken literally, if they are reinterpreted as we receive them as symbolic and as poetic, then we can receive them back with a second naiveté. Nonetheless, language is important and so this morning I attempted to say liturgically what I hope you will receive sacramentally and hear in proclamation, that the dangerous memory of Jesus will have been imbibed in the sacrament and proclaimed in word, and that we will be confronted with that Jesus, not because it was Jesus, but because something came to expression and embodiment in Jesus, and it is Jesus who is that founding vision for the Christian tradition. So, if we would continue in that tradition, then we would be called again and again to retrieve that dangerous memory of Jesus. As I was thinking about that, I thought about those challenges that I have received, and I thought it is perhaps time to explain exactly what I hope you experience when you come to the table. What is the memory of Jesus? © Grand Valley State University �Dangerous Memory of Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I know the shaping power of liturgy because as a child I came to the Lord’s Supper only four times a year and yet, year after year after year after year those words and phrases and paragraphs were imprinted upon the depths of my being. I still remember the old orthodox, conservative atonement theology of the Lord’s Supper. Being a part of the Reformation tradition, it was a tradition that defined itself over against the Roman Catholic tradition, and the sacrament to be a holistic experience was turned into a didactic experience where we explained with careful definition our theology.” He was forsaken of God that we need never be forsaken. Or, in preparation for the table, after being charged to come with a clean conscious, the paragraph, “These things are not said, dearly beloved, in order to distress the contrite heart of God’s people lest no one could come to this table but those who were without sin...” You see, I can still reel it off. That does deeply imprint, and so I know how important it is that we work together at an understanding of how we come to this table, not that everyone has to come to this table with the same understanding, and not that anyone has to change any understanding that is meaningful and communicates the transcendent. I don’t mind that a bit. But, let us try, at least, to be consistent in our liturgical practice and the proclamation of the theological vision that we have shared together. As I was working on this, I was reading Volume II of Gary Dorrien’s American Liberal Tradition. It is so fascinating to me; I was not reading it for this purpose at all, but serendipitously, there it came. Cited on page 148f, Charles Clayton Morrison, long time editor of The Christian Century, is the one who named that journal the Christian Century at the turn of the 20th century because there was such an optimism about the future of the Christian tradition. The social gospel had come into being a decade or so before that. The social gospel had an understanding of Jesus as a proclaimer of the Kingdom of God, and out of the liberal tradition came this social gospel tradition that wanted to Christianize America. It was full of all kinds of good intentions. It was highly optimistic; it was also naive, but it had a beautiful vision and a passion to Christianize this society. What they understood themselves as doing was to leapfrog over all of the centuries and all of the high Christological doctrine and all of the Church’s structure and liturgical practice and get back to Jesus. They saw Jesus in his historical context, because this was the time when the historical Jesus studies were beginning to become commonly known. What they saw in Jesus was one who proclaimed the Kingdom of God, that is, the world the way it would be if God ruled. They made all kinds of radical proposals about the transformation of society, and there was a movement in that liberal tradition from God “out there,” a supernatural kind of theism, a God who dipped down to save and redeem for some future state. Rather, they understood Jesus to be concerned about the world here and now and its transformation. So, there was a great passion and there was a great optimism, and the social gospel was heralded by some great spirits, and it never did very well in the Church. Charles Clayton Morrison, in the 30s, suggested that the reason that it never did very well in the Church was that the Church is an institution and the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus was the © Grand Valley State University �Dangerous Memory of Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 4   gospel of a movement of a protest movement, of a reformer in a back corner of the Roman empire challenging the imperial power of the state, and the dominating power of the Church. Charles Clayton Morrison, as he could see that there was so much fire and enthusiasm for this in the hearts of the clergy, was trying to figure out why it didn’t take in the Church, and he came to see that it started out as a movement. The gospel of Jesus is a movement. It is a radical social movement. It has all kinds of implications. If I had read the other lesson I had intended to read this morning, it would have been from Acts 4 where the disciples are proclaiming Jesus and his resurrection after the event of Easter, the Easter experience, and the authorities hauled them in and arrested them, and they don’t know what to do with them and so they take them out and charge them severely, “Don’t speak in that name.” Peter and John come back to the community and the community says, “Praise God, thank God,” and they start quoting scripture, a song of David in the fourth chapter of Acts, the 26th verse, “Why did the nations rage, and why did the kings and rulers of the earth storm against you and against your kingdom,” and so on. And then they remembered Jesus who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and at the end of the fourth chapter is that paragraph about that early commune. It was a purely communist society; they shared their goods, sold their goods, shared with one another and no one had any need. There was a common purse that ends with the story of Barnabas who had a field and sowed it and brought the receipts to the disciples’ feet. Now, that is the way it started, and Morrison says, “You know what? In time the early Church fathers began to institutionalize this whole thing and Emperor Constantine in the 4th century established the Church, obviously it couldn’t live that way anymore.” The way it was now structured as an agent of an empire, as a world movement, it just couldn’t handle the gospel of the kingdom according to Jesus of Nazareth. Morrison told the story that in 1933 there were some 600 ministers in a denominational conference in Ohio. He obviously was there. He said their hearts were burning, they were fervent, they were talking about the end of this whole war business, they were talking about economic reform, they were talking about government ownership, they were edging perhaps on the edge of a modified socialism. These clergy people all gathered together, probably in their collars and their tails hugging one another and saying, “Isn’t it great? Yes, go Jesus!” But, he said, then they got back to their pulpits and they offered a far tamer fare. And then he says something rather tragic. He said there were those who came back to their pulpits and didn’t tell their people at all about the burning passion of their heart, and they got alienated from their work. There were a few frivolous souls like myself who dared to tell their people what they were thinking and they lost their positions. And there were a few cases where it got through to the people, but the only place to tell about it was in the sermon and the sermon is the worst possible place to tell about it, because in shaping a community, it is shaped in prayer and in song and in meditation and in being together, not in the cognitive experience of hearing the proclamation. And so Charles Clayton Morrison © Grand Valley State University �Dangerous Memory of Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 5   diagnosed the reason why the religion of Jesus was so inhospitably received in the organized church. And we can understand why the Church has lived all through the centuries much more easily with that conservative and orthodox understanding of atonement theology whereby whatever happened to Jesus was for the salvation of the world, but a salvation that was to be realized in the sweet by and by. So, I struggle with all of that. I have, of late, been discouraged, to be honest with you, even on the edge of being depressed, because the more I sense what Jesus was about in his historical context as we know today through cross-cultural studies, etc., the more I see the impossibility of the Church being Christian. You can’t take a first century protest movement, a commune, and translate that oneon-one into an established institution which is not only an established institution in the back corner of the world, but an established institution of the most powerful nation in the world, today’s imperial power. You cannot really allow the dangerous memory of Jesus to shape your vision and your values without finding some dissonance between our society today and that which Jesus seemed to embody. And so, I make a little effort this morning to express that dangerous memory so that when we come to this table this morning, we will have done it with awareness. What did you remember at the table this morning? I don’t have answers. Honestly, I don’t have answers. I am troubled by the fact that I see so little wrestling with the question, in all honesty, I’d rather not remember. I’d rather forget. But, then I’d have to abandon this table and to abandon this table and the memory that it strikes in me would be to deny that which I believe is the highest and the best and the noblest impulse of my being. Charles Clayton Morrison said that the problem was that the social gospel was a ministers’ gospel never owned by the laity. And he said the lay people never really understood the passion and burden in the hearts of their pastors. He said the people got only enough of a hint of it to be irritated by it, and then, and I’m quoting now, he’s preaching politics again or economics or internationalism. I wish he’d just preach the religion of Jesus. References: Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950,Vol. II. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost III Scripture Text I Corinthians 11:23-26 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Gary Dorrien. The Making of American Liberal Theology: Idealism, Realism, and Modernity, 1900-1950, Vol II, 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-0-20030629 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-06-29 Title A name given to the resource The Dangerous Memory of Jesus Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 29, 2003 entitled "The Dangerous Memory of Jesus", on the occasion of Pentecost III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 11:23-26. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Radical Transformation The Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ee4bdd9692f009925d8104472ec50071.mp3 fb847646dda9eba1466312a470676cee 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 I Scripture Text Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 65:17, Rev. 21:1, Matthew 28:20 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950423 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-04-23 Title A name given to the resource The Dawn of a New Age: The Ground of 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 Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 23, 1995 entitled "The Dawn of a New Age: The Ground of Hope", on the occasion of Eastertide I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 65:17, Rev. 21:1, Matthew 28:20. 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/6cf1a51a24ea0823491cac34497b48f4.mp3 820d11848ad4016f1f3be1f0ed2e3aae Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Easter Sunday Scripture Text Ps. 16:11, Matt. 28:7, Col. 1:19-20 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19920419 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-04-19 Title A name given to the resource The Dawn of a New World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 19, 1992 entitled "The Dawn of a New World", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ps. 16:11, Matt. 28:7, Col. 1:19-20. 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/62c9354ea3482ef1f2d79de3287b73f6.pdf 216bdd7b787c733ac0a10507d246a25d PDF Text Text THE DAWNING OP A HB1C mY - Jm 0Lta D 1111 UR NUBVO DIA People have vo11 heara the news? City hall has got the Blues Uptown dancing in the street Cha-cha to a mighty beat. And together we can change it turn it around and re~rrange it, hand in hand and hand in hand New Day Dawning in our land. Families and neighborhoods working for the common good, People stay machines must go Ni.ghtly yes, but Q!iley no. CHORUS We the people like the sun shining out on everyone . United we are here to stay The Dawning of a brand new day. CHORUS They're always taking, never giving tearing down the homes we live in In the shadows in the dimness building profits for their business. CHORUS Vendri un Nueva o!a No more roaches en casa fria Politicians don't you know estamos aqui and you gotta go. CHORUS We won't move and we won't go City Hall we tell you so if you don't or won't believe us we will show you we mean business. CHORUS (CHORUS) � 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 Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Puerto Ricans--United States Civil Rights--United States--History Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.) Personal narratives Social justice Community activists--Illinois--Chicago Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives. The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jiménez, José, 1948- Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 2012-2017 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-65_1974-New-Day-song Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974 Title A name given to the resource The Dawning of a New Day Description An account of the resource Song lyrics for an anthem for José "Cha-Cha" Jiménez's aldermanic campaign in 46th Ward, Chicago. Subject The topic of the resource Young Lords (Organization) Young Lords (Organization) History Puerto Rican Civil rights Puerto Rican Social conditions Chicago (Ill.) Civil rights movements Community activists Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65) Relation A related resource Young Lords in Lincoln Park interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12b7b0e4a2161713808fd18a617257b9.pdf d164122ff975f1729826f44a762afedb PDF Text Text THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT: POSTSCRIPT PERHAPS, like me, you wonder what happened to some of the people who played a part in this day of April 14 , 1865. I will tell you, in no set order, the little that I know: Surgeon General Barnes lived long . enough to minister to the assassinated President Garfield. Andrew Johnson lived ten years. William H. Seward recovered, and died in 1872 of natural causes. He was seventy- one. James Speed, Lincoln's old friend, resigned as Attorney General in a year. " Stanton was forced from his post by Johnson and begged to be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. The appointment arrived as he was on his deathbed in 1669. The Secretary of the Interior, John Usher, resigned in a month . Gideon Welles lived to be seventy-six years old. General Augur, who had been in Grant's class at West Point, retired_ from the army and lived to see the , ,\., -· start of the .Spanish-AmeriQan War. Schuyler Colfax became Vice President of the United States and was later involved i n t he Credit Mobilier scandal. William H. Crook, the guard, lived a great number of years and wrote his memoirs. Thomas Eckert , who could .break pokers over his arm, b ecame a general, retired, beca~e head of a big commercial te-legraph company, and lived until 1910. The owner of' Ford's Theatre, J ohn T. Ford, was thrown into prison, but was later released for lack of evidence. The government confiscated nis theater, but - he forced it to pay $100,000 for the 'house. Tiventy-eight y ears later, the floors of Ford's collapsed , killing more than a score of government workers. Today, rebuilt, the theater is a national museum. Ulysses S. Grant, in time , became President of the United States, had a poor term of office , became a tool of Wall Street operators, and wrote extensive " memoirs to keep £rem dying penniless in 1885. Bessie Hale , the Senator's daughter who loved John Wilkes Booth, later married William Eaton Chandler , who was not an a ctor. Clara Harris was killed by her husband, Maj or Henry Rathbone, who, in turn, lived out his days in an insane asylum. Marshal Ward Hill Lamon, who might have saved Lincoln, regretted all ,. his days (and they covered the next twenty-eight years ) that he was in Richmond night the President was shot. �George Atzerodt was caught, tried and hanged. So were Lewis Paine and David Herold. Booth was cornered in a ,Virginia barn and shot. For years afterward there were stories that it wasn't Booth who was shot, but the stories were wrong. I t ~ Booth and, years later, when the government removed his body from under a stone floor in a prison, and sent it home, the Booth family identified the remains as those of John Wilkes Booth and buried him in the family plot. Mrs. Mary E. Surratt was tried, convicted and hanged for cpnspiracy. On a hot July day, a government employee helQ an umbrella over h~r head before the trap was sprung. On the morning of the hanging, her daughter Anna tried to see Presi dent Johnson to beg for mercy for her mother. Anna was kept from seeing the President by Preston King of New York and Senator James H. La ne of Kansas. Six months later, King tied a bag of-shot around his neck and jumped off a Hoboken ferry; eight months after that, Senator Lane· shot himself. Dr. Samuel Mudd was tried for conspiracy a nd convicted. So were Sam Arnold, Mike O'Laughlin and Ned Spangler, the horse holder. All four were sentenced to Albany (New York) Penitentiary. Secretary Stanton, who felt that they had got off lightly, removed them to Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas Prison, off Key West , Florida. There in Augus t, 1867, yellow fever broke, out and, when the prison doctor died, :pr. Mudd volunteered his services. He saved t he lives of soldiers and prisoners , but Mi ke O'Laughlin died. The officers of the post appealed for a pardon for Mudd and it was granted in February, 1869. Arnold and Spangler were freed wi th him and, realizing t hat Ned Spangler was dying of tuberculosis, Dr. Mudd took him home to Br yantown with him, and cared for him until he died. John Lloyd and Louis Wiechman became the-government's star witnesses against Mrs. Surratt. Lloyd claimed he was t hreatened with death unless ,he testified against her. Wiechman claimed that Stanton promised him a job fo.r his work as a witness, and for a time he worked in the Philadelphia customs house. He was later fired. When he died, he kept repeating that he was on his deathbed and he would still say that he told the t ruth at the trial of Mrs. Surratt. John Surratt ran to Canada, thenqe to Europe, and was discov~red two years later working as a Zouave forty miles from the ~~tican. He was brought back, tried and eventually released. He made lectures on the assassination of Lincoln. �Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln, perhaps ~he most pathetic of all the people who figured in this day , was certified as a "lunatic"* in Cook County, Illinois, ten years after the dea~h of her husband. It was Robert's sad duty to sign the commitment pap ers. She was released a year later, and spent the last months of her life (1882 ) in a darkened room dressed in widow ' s weeds. In 1871, Tad died. The last of the survivors, Robert Todd Lincoln, died at'the age of eighty-three, in 1926. *This word, in a time of psychiatric ignorance, was used to describe most emotional disturbances. � 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-45_CW2817 Title A name given to the resource The Day Lincoln was Shot: Postscript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bishop, Jim, 1907-1987 Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Assassination Washington (D.C.) Description An account of the resource Typescript written and signed by Jim Bishop, author of The Day Lincoln was Shot. The postscript describes what happened to the people who played a part in the day Lincoln was assassinated. Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Civil War and slavery collection (RHC-45): http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472 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/fa502e6703b2801448fdd7b36f73882d.pdf 2df1ee9b45b5d1fceca5166a5b3d5f7c PDF Text Text The Death of a Dreamer From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Mark 15:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Palm Sunday, April 9, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon In addition to the scripture, we hear a contemporary reading on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hanged 50 years ago today outside the Flossenburg prison camp in Germany. One of his companions of the last days, an Englishman, Payne Best, who had been captured and was also incarcerated, wrote, Bonhoeffer was different. Just quite calm and normal, seemingly perfectly at his ease, his soul really shone in the dark desperation of our prison. Bonhoeffer was passing the last landmarks in his spiritual journey. The struggles of the Tegel prison days had ended in victory, and he seemed to have attained that peace which is the gift of God and not as the world giveth -the struggle to abandon to God his rich and treasured past, the struggle with the last vestiges of his pride, the struggle to suffer in full measure and yet in gratitude, his human longings and to remain open to others in the midst of his pain. All this had led him to that experience of the cross in which at last, through a grasp of reality so intense that it fused all the elements of his being into a single, shining whole, he learned what life can be when we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but the sufferings of God in the world. Out of this death to the last vestiges of self Bonhoeffer seems to have been raised up quietly, unspectacularly into the last stage of his life in which he was made whole, made single, finally integrated in Christ in a way more complete than any that had gone before. The Christian had become the Man for Others, the disciple as his Lord. From his own writings toward the end of his life, Stations on the Road to Freedom, Bonhoeffer gives four stations - discipline, action, suffering, and finally death. Of death, he writes: Come now, Queen of the Feast, on the road to eternal freedom. Oh, Death, cast off the grievous chains that lay low the thick walls of our mortal body and our blinded soul, that at last we may behold what here we have © Grand Valley State University   �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 2   failed to see. Oh, Freedom, how long have we sought thee in discipline and in action and in suffering. Dying, we behold thee now and see thee in the face of God. This, too, is the word of the Lord. It was a cold day in January when I was trying to figure out what I would preach in this Lenten season. It was the Thursday before we left on vacation that I ascended to my loft early in the morning and descended from my loft at eleven o'clock in the evening. I realized that the worst case scenario would be that I would ruin the whole day and still come up empty. And that's exactly what happened. Eleven o'clock at night, blurry-eyed and not a word on the paper. But, wonder of wonders, and it has happened before, I awakened on Friday morning and went to the loft again and within a matter of a few minutes, wrote out the themes and the texts for the Lenten season, and THE DREAM was born. And in the unraveling of this dream, I have found that perhaps as never before, the series has preached itself. It's been an experience of the sermons almost writing themselves. And as I come now to this Palm Sunday celebration, I realize in all of the themes and the texts, there is just one word that I would change. And it is a word in the title of today's message, "The Death of a Dream." The thing that has really struck me in this time of reflection on the theme is the fact that dreams don't die. Dreamers die. But, dreams don't die. And so, were I to publish the series, there would be that one minor but very significant change. The title of this message should rather be, "The Death of a Dreamer," because Jesus died. And so many of those throughout the course of human history who dreamed the dream have died, as well. It is one of those great, profound truths that has washed over me again and again in these days that, though the dreamer die, the dream does not die. As I have reflected on this course of messages, I have come to a deeper sadness, I think, than ever before. I've come to a sadness about things that are not new, for I have known them, but a deeper sadness because I seem to be struck more and more with the fact that in the human story we do kill the dreamers. We crucify those who dare to dream too boldly. It's not a new fact, of course. We've known it all along. We can go back into ancient history and we read the story of the great philosopher and human being, Socrates, who was condemned at a public trial as an enemy of the people and drank the hemlock and died. And we know that Jesus was fully aware of the fact, for on one occasion he said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets!" He was not unaware of that into which he had moved. And during the course of these weeks we have mentioned some of the contemporary dreamers of our century - our century, the most violent and the bloodiest century of human history. We know, for example, of Gandhi, with his revolutionary, non-violent resistance, gunned down, Dag Hammerskold, the Secretary General of the United Nations, a great Christian visionary who was brought into an "accident," Martin Luther King, who led the revolt of his own people claiming their rightful place. © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 3   No, it's not really anything new. It's ancient history. It's as current as yesterday. We kill; we crucify dreamers. But I think I've come to a deeper sense of that, somehow. It makes me sad. I wonder why. And the anger and the violence of the human family is so, so sad. Because it could be so different, and it's so sad because it doesn't seem to change. Even in the 2000 years of Christian history, the Christian Church itself has been implicated in the violence itself! It doesn't change. It's so sad, because people suffer. And it's so sad, because the very best of humankind reaches a violent end through appalling blindness, ignorance. Jesus dreamed a dream of a different kind of a world. Dreamed a world of compassionate community. He declared his dream and portrayed his dream of that marvelous picture of the father who received his children home. He lived out, he embodied the dream and, in what he taught and in his concrete behavior, he went right to the center of the establishment, right to the temple court itself, and in symbolic action cleared the court of those who were conducting commerce because they were supportive of a system, the system itself, the established system of Church and State that was responsible for the excluding of some, of growing the divisions between people, of saying who was in and who was out, a system that was violent in its abuse of those who were voiceless and powerless, a system that in the name of God was denying the very dream of God. And they killed him. They crucified him. And I suppose that, when I entitled this message "The Death of a Dream," I was thinking of the way he died. The way he died - it was an awful death! Luke and John modify a little bit, but if you readjust Mark, the earliest account, followed by Matthew, Jesus cries with his last words, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" I guess when I was thinking about that in the first place, it seemed as though, indeed, the dream died! "My God, my God, why?" I wonder if Jesus died with such dereliction, such desolation, such despair. I wonder if it was because Jesus so believed right to the end that even then God would intervene. Did not Jesus believe that God would create newness? Did not Jesus believe that he was absolutely called and compelled by God to announce the dream, and was he not confident that it would happen? I really think that probably was why his death was so awful. I think Jesus died trusting, but trusting in the midst of the darkness and trusting with his dream crushed. So, it's a very sad realization. It's sad because it's about me and it's about us; it’s about the world, it's about humankind. It's not about some ancient episode. It's about an ongoing story, which we're still writing. But if I have been saddened by that, and I really have, the more I've thought about it this year, I've also come back again and again to a wonderful realization that, though dreamers die, the dream doesn't die. That’s the amazing thing - the dream doesn't die. The dream won't die! Jesus may have died thinking that the dream was dead, but it was in the very act of his dying, in the very faithfulness to the end in his having lived it out fully, it was in that very action, that very concrete action in the midst of our history, that that dream was born again. Born again and again and again. The © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 4   dream that won't die. And that's been encouraging to me. In fact, it is a wonder the dream will not die. And I have to believe because God authors the dream, because the dream is indeed the reflection of the heart and center of reality, that the dream bespeaks reality at its center. The dream is a dream of what will be, because God will not abandon Creation. It is God Who puts the dream in the human heart, and though the dreamer may die, the dream will not die. I've been struck by the fact that the great dreamers are drunk with God. They are drunk with God! Oh, there have been certainly noble people with high ideals and great programs who have not claimed the authentication of God, but I sense that, if it is simply a human program, if it depends on human imagination and human passion and human commitment, it will run out of gas, it will run out of steam. But if there is one who is truly a dreamer - that one is drunk with God, compelled by God. That one has a sense of destiny that will not let go. It was certainly that way with Jesus. We are reminded in the contemporary research. Jesus is called a holy man, a charismatic figure. That doesn't mean that he simply had a powerful personality that sparkled but, rather, that Jesus was in touch with another dimension of reality, that Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God. There was something about Jesus that was permeated with God and that radiated God. Jesus was drunk with God! It was true, as well, of that French Reformed pastor, André Trocmé. I've mentioned him - he resisted the collaborationist French government; he created a safe place for Jewish refugees from the Holocaust; he was responsible for the saving of thousands of Jewish lives. Out of his obedience to Jesus, and in his existential moment of decision he decided not to be complicit with a plot to assassinate Hitler because it might separate his soul from Jesus. His obedience took that form. But it was true, as well, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you read his Letters and Papers From Prison, you will find that this man was drenched with God. He was a truly, truly spiritual man. He read his Psalms and his scriptures; he said his prayers, he sang his hymns, and he loved to worship. He was a man whose life was filled with God, God-consciousness; he lived before the face of God. I'm convinced that it is God who puts the dream in the human heart. One does not choose to be a dreamer. Oh, in the old mystical days of my youth, my dear father would speak about his prayer that I would go into the ministry, and he would always add, "But I know that God must call," and I have to admit that I've become a bit cynical about that. I see all too many in my profession who are choosing a profession as much as they may, with pious platitude, say they are called. And I realize the temptation of a dreamer like myself is to get my own ego all tied up in the business, to build a great church, to build a great empire. Egocentricity so subtly sneaks in so that one thinks and, even in the name of God, makes all kinds of pious sounds when down deep one simply needs to be successful, to be a hero or something like that. But I see Jesus, and I see Bonhoeffer, and I know that when it's the right thing, one doesn't choose it! © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Bonhoeffer resisted it. He was a fully human being, he was full of humor, he was full of wonderful cultural background, he loved life! He resisted. He took aggressive action, political action in his day in the name of Jesus Christ. He was a wonderful human being. As Payne Best said, "You felt something different when he came into the room." Those imprisoned with him said he was a source of strength, of comfort, of joy. He couldn't help himself. He was chosen. Bonhoeffer said, "I learned that you don't try to make something out of yourself." A pious person, a religious person, a churchman, or whatever. No. Too many of us try to make something out of ourselves. Too many of us get captivated with some kind of self-serving dream or profession. Too many of us get too selfimportant. We get puffed up. We think somehow or other that the world depends upon us and that the kingdom of God depends upon us. And I want to tell you - it doesn't work that way. The real thing is to be resisted. And the real thing cannot be resisted, because it is given by God. God chooses. God makes dreamers. And when God lays God's hand on one and the dream is there, one cannot get loose from it. The dream doesn't die, because God won't let it die. God takes some and God says, "Dream!" And this, too, I've learned - that if one lives faithful to the dream, if one lives in integrity with the dream, then thus to live is enough. To live true to the dream in this life is enough. And that, too, is an insight that is not always apparent. It's certainly not apparent in the Church; it's certainly not what we've done with the Christian Gospel, for we've gone throughout the world promising the Christian Gospel and calling people to have faith and to be obedient because there would be death and there would be judgment, and then there was heaven or something else. We have spoken of the immediate response to Jesus Christ in terms of the future, some future reward. And I want to say it's wrong! When I see Jesus, when I see Bonhoeffer, then I know, if one has a dream and one is true to the dream, then one has lived true to the dream, and it is enough. Jesus did not stay faithful to the dream because he knew that Easter would follow Good Friday. He followed true to the dream because it was true! He was true to the dream because it was right! There's no other reason to do it than if it is right. If it is true, then you do it! You walk that path; you don't ask "What if?" Bonhoeffer did the same thing. True to it because it was right to do it. He realized in his terrible suffering that it was in suffering in this life that one finds communion with God. It is in this life when I have given up myself and joined in the sufferings of God in the world that I find communion with God. In other words, the cross was not the end of Jesus' life. It was at the beginning. The cross was not in Bonhoeffer's martyrdom; it was in his beginning when he followed the path of discipleship. If one is called and follows the path of discipleship, if one with passion lives true to the dream, then at the end it's enough. We don't need more. © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 6   At the end of his life, with the Gestapo at the door, when they called Bonhoeffer's name, he said to the Englishman, Payne Best, "This is the end. For me, the beginning of life." And Bonhoeffer believed that. And I believe that, too. But I want to say as forcefully, as passionately, as seriously, as I can say to you - that if it is only Easter that beckons us on, then we haven't yet learned the Gospel. If it is only a promise of resurrection that keeps us faithful to the dream, we haven't yet followed Jesus. Jesus didn't go through Good Friday because Easter was coming. And Bonhoeffer didn't live faithful to the dream because there was heaven by and by. It is enough to know what God calls one to do here and now and to do it, and to do it with all one's heart and all one's passion, and having done it, it is enough. It is enough. That's what it is to follow Jesus. And it is such that God continues to seduce with a dream, to compel with a dream. And it's not sad. It's really, really wonderful, because suddenly one wakes up and says it's not some future reality it's here and now, it's communion with God, it's freedom. My God - it's joy! © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dd20c44e33a6bc2746f7dcdc8d17dbc1.mp3 825dc65d30d1880dfab3e712067ccdf5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Series The Dream Scripture Text Mark 15:34 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950409 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-04-09 Title A name given to the resource The Death of a 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 Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 9, 1995 entitled "The Death of a Dream", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 15:34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion Followers of Jesus Inclusive Palm Sunday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8ad813af0e75066eb0158d36c1ca86f2.mp3 422e413e8ea92181cd8e6197452ae78b https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6c914f3278cc19be9a38d7cc720331fd.pdf 512b43fb964dc9e236b3a521cbb32679 PDF Text Text The Deeper Truth of Incarnation Text: I John 1: 1-4, 4: 7-8; John 1: 1-5, 14-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 22, 2002 Transcription of the spoken sermon The title of the sermon this morning invites you to think with me about incarnation and the deeper understanding of it. It is not because I have discovered something about incarnation that is brand new. It is rather that I am recognizing more and more that the old familiar truth of incarnation has become so familiar to us that we fail to see, to understand its radicality and the revolutionary nature of the claim of incarnation. The eternal Word: “In the beginning was the Word,” John begins the gospel. Someone has translated that, “In the beginning was the Intention,” and I like that. The Divine Intention. There was something in the beginning, some intentionality in this whole creative process. So, in the beginning was the Divine Intention. In the fourteenth verse that Divine Intention becomes flesh, human nature. The radicality of that claim is amazing. Luke tells us the story in a beautiful fashion, describing the birth of the child, the mother, the angels, the shepherds and all. But John had a philosophical bent of mind, and he sets this event in a vast cosmic context, reflecting on it philosophically or theologically. (You will be well advised to stick with the storytellers. Theologians are boring, but such is my lot.) So, it is John this morning. “The Word became flesh.” That is a radical claim. All day long yesterday the house was filled with a marvelous aroma, and at suppertime Nancy served us bowls of chili con carne. We often speak about chili, but it is really chili con carne, and con carne comes from the Latin. Con is the preposition with, and carne is meat. We are, those of us who haven’t cleaned up our act and become vegetarians, carnivores, meat eaters, carnivorous. I love it. And I look like it. Carnival. You have never identified that word with chili con carne, but as a matter of fact, carnival is the carni-valle, farewell to red meat, farewell to meat. Carnival time is a time to let out all of the stops and get all that juice out of you because you are about to enter into a fast where you are going to be solemn and serious. And so Mardi Gras, a carnival, is a farewell to the flesh. The incarnation means that what we really have to deal with is God con carne. It’s a little crass, but you should never forget it. Christmas is God con carne. Christmas is God with flesh on, the central truth expressed so powerfully in © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   John’s gospel and reiterated in the letters of John which emanated from that Johannine circle. How could you make it any more concrete than those opening sentences of that first letter? “We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen from our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands of the word of life.” John was intent on expressing the fact that God has come to expression in human nature, in humanity, that the human is the embodiment of God, the enfleshment of God. From time immemorial we have wanted some clue about God. Hasn’t there always been that question in the depths of the human spirit—who is God? Where is God? What is God? What is the ultimate? Why is there something rather than nothing? Certainly John knew that. In the fourteenth chapter we have that little conversation between Jesus and Phillip. Jesus has been talking about going to the father and Phillip says, “Well, Lord, just show us the father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus says to him, “Phillip, have I been with you so long and you still don’t get it? If you have seen me, you have seen the father.” Phillip, don’t you get it? Here I am, God in your midst, the embodiment, the enfleshment of God in your midst. Phillip, you want to see the father, you want to understand the father, you want to know the clue to the mystery of that which is ultimate? Touch me. Look in my face, for I am the only God you will ever know, because the amazing claim of our gospel is that the eternal intention has become enfleshed in a human being. In the eighteenth verse we read, “No one has ever seen God.” Once again, there it is. You see, no one has ever seen God. But the only son has made God known. As I have said before, someone has translated that in a rather marvelous fashion. The discipline we learn in seminary is the science of exegesis. You take a text and break it apart and open it up and try to explain it. You interpret it. That is what I am doing as we speak. Exegesis. It is an academic discipline which hopefully would prepare the preacher for opening the text for the people. That eighteenth verse—no one has seen God—has been translated by someone: The only son is the exegesis of the father. That is wonderful. The son breaks open the mystery that is God. So this is what Christmas is about. This is what the central act of Christmas is about—the embodiment, the enfleshment of God in the human. “Ah,” you say to me, “that is not a deeper understanding. That is the same old thing we have always heard.” That’s true. But let me remind you of what I have been circling around in these last weeks and last Advent season particularly. I cannot believe that I have lived all my life, Advent after Advent, and not recognized the contradiction—the conflict between the mirror of God in the incarnation and the mirror of God in the second coming. In Advent we so easily say that the one who came is coming again. And then it struck me that the image © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   of God that we have revealed in the life of Jesus from the crib to the cross, that life of obscurity and poverty, of humility, of grace, of compassion, the vulnerability of the child, the vulnerability of the one who was crucified, is a picture of God and we have claimed it. But how do we put it together with the God revealed in that one who will come again? The one who came in poverty and humility will come again in power and great glory? What is mirrored in the first coming contrasts with the God mirrored in the second coming. It seems that the one who came in poverty and humility came from another realm into our realm, took temporary residence, took on flesh temporarily, and then left again, having accomplished redemption in order that we might be delivered from this realm into God’s realm. There are two realms, a dualism, and the God revealed in that child, that God as vulnerable is still apparently above the fray and still in control and still calling the shots. But the God revealed in the child, in the vulnerability of the child, has given up on control. That God embodied in the human is the God who creates us in freedom, beckoning us to love in turn. And that is precisely the risk of love. Love doesn’t have any guarantees. If you have a world where might makes right, you can coerce and have your own way. If God runs the universe that way, then God can have God’s way. But if God indeed emptied God’s self, and if the Infinite has become concrete in the finite so that you can touch and handle a word made flesh, then that kind of vulnerability brings no guarantee. Love can be defeated. Love can be crucified. And the image of that God is quite other than the God who will move from the wings into the main stage and call down the curtain on history and execute judgment on the living and the dead. That God never gave up control. That God in Jesus remained “God” very much. I am suggesting to you that the deeper understanding of incarnation may be that the God revealed in Bethlehem’s child is the real genius of the Christian understanding, but that the Church couldn’t live very long with a vulnerable God. What we want is a God who is strong and in control, the Lord God Almighty. Now just think about this with me, because I am plowing some new ground here and I am not at all sure. I am totally sure, however, that I do not have all the loose ends gathered up. But I am attempting to find a new way to think and speak about God as I see God revealed in Jesus and the incarnation and simply stop there, because I think a major distortion has occurred in the history of the church and it began very early. It began with that apocalyptic expectation in the immediate aftermath of Jesus, that apocalyptic vision that expected the heavens to open and God to come down and to wreak judgment on the world. I am suggesting to you a deeper understanding of the incarnation in that the original intention was to say, “O my god, God is like that!” I am suggesting that the intention of the incarnation in the heart of the Christian proclamation was to portray a God of vulnerability, because that God would create the likes of us in freedom, beckoning us to love. It seems to me that the mistake the Church made © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   was to say that what happened in Jesus happened once for all, one for all, when as a matter of fact, the initial encounter with him by those who touched him, who looked upon him, who listened to him was to say, “My God!” and to realize that God was in the human. We are in this cosmic process of billions of years, the Big Bang, stars exploding, elements cooling, and planets forming in a most amazing fashion beyond our ability to fathom. It seems to me that the deeper understanding of the incarnation is that after billions and billions and billions of years, perhaps about three million years ago, life happened. Then maybe a million years ago something similar to human life began to form, and eventually it comes to the likes of us on the edge of the third millennium where we can sit in an assembly like this and think about billions of years and cosmic reality and star explosions. Do you realize the amazing understanding that is ours, the privilege that is ours? We have come to a point where we are aware of that whole thing, aware of that whole process, learning more about it all the time, yet knowing very little about its deep mysteries except that we are the product of the process that has been underway. As we think about it, we human beings become the consciousness of the cosmos, we human beings become the awareness. The cosmos becomes aware in us. We human beings have a voice to praise and stand in wonder at the cosmos. That is an amazing thing! And it seems to me the deeper understanding of the incarnation would be that the process goes along for billions of years and one day some creature wakes up and becomes aware to the point that we say, “There is a human being.” And the awareness continues to grow. The understanding of the incarnation I am suggesting claims that the Infinite, that Creative Spirit, however you wish to speak of the Ultimate Mystery, becomes concrete in the finitude of the likes of us. Finitude, matter which has spirit, matter which thinks and knows and understands and becomes aware—that is the miracle of Christmas, the coming into flesh of God. That is the concretization of the Creative Spirit in a form that you can begin to grasp. The Church wanted to say all of that about Jesus, but only Jesus. And then the rest of us poor middling human beings trudge through this vale of tears waiting to be redeemed in order that we might be exited to another realm. Do you see the dualism of that traditional conception? God sends the Son, the Son takes up temporary residence in our flesh, and after the incarnation there is an exincarnation. The purpose of the incarnation was not to enable us to be the bearers of divinity, but rather to deliver us from our fallen estate. But we have missed the glory of it! We have missed the wonder of it. We sit around here waiting. We wait for the next act of God. We wait for the clouds to open and for God to speak in dramatic fashion and to right the wrongs and bring history to consummation. But that is not going to happen. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   God has acted. God has become human. The human is the bearer of God. The incarnation is a reality, an ongoing reality. We are the extension of the incarnation. We cry out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” I suppose God would resoundingly cry, “How long? How long, indeed! When will you get it? You are it!” I think the writer of that first letter had something like that in mind, for after the opening paragraphs of chapter one saying God is tangible in the flesh, in the fourth chapter he writes God is love. And he repeats that line from the gospel’s first chapter: “No one has ever seen God.” But then he adds content to it. He says that the one who dwells in love dwells in God and God dwells in that one. A few lines later, the one who abides in love abides in God and God in that one. In other words, humanity is the bearer of divinity. And it is the one who has learned to love who is the one in whom that divinity dwells in full expression. Well, I shouldn’t say “full expression.” Let’s say tentative expression, or inadequate expression, perhaps flawed expression. But nonetheless, there was something about Jesus, the flesh of Jesus, the person of Jesus which caused those who saw him, who walked with him, who had an encounter with him to say, “My God!” And that wasn’t the end. It was only the beginning. It wasn’t once for all and at one time and place, but true every place at all times. The whole process has been tending toward this. The whole cosmic process has been issuing in spirit, spirit marked by love, for God is love. The world lies in such darkness and there is such grief and pain, it is only in the midst of that darkness when the human embraces me that I can feel the embrace of God; when another looks into my eyes and says, “I care, I love.” Then I look into the face of God. All that sounds like naive preacher talk, the kind of silly sentimental stuff you would expect at Christmas. Well, it’s your fault. You came to church at Christmas time. Sometimes I question myself about harping on this all the time, because someone might say to me, “Don’t you know there is a real world out there? Don’t you know how dark it is? You are saying that the human animal is a God-bearer? You are saying that the only God accessible, visible, tangible is the God enfleshed in the human?” And I have to say, “Yes.” Because I believe that Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life and no one will ever experience the Ultimate Mystery except in the way of Jesus, which is the way of love, of self-emptying love. The deeper truth of the incarnation is the radicality of the divinity in humanity that is crying to come to expression. But we can’t live with that for very long. Then it’s in our hands, it is up to us. Then we have to change the world. Once in a while I just smile at myself ranting on like this in such naive fashion, except that the real naiveté is to think that the © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 6   kingdom will come in any other way, that it will come through power or might or glory, that it will come with the exercise of muscle, that we can establish once and for all freedom and justice. No. Fear controls and power coerces. Love transforms. Once in a while I get a fax on Sunday night. This one said, “Dick, following is a bit of verse that fits with your sermon this morning. I believe the original stimulus was one of your Wednesday evening Advent messages a year ago. You will also find a number of thoughts borrowed from your sermons.” What if we loved one another? What if we Christians, Muslims and Jews loved one another? What if we Christians, Hindus and Buddhists loved one another? What if we Christians, Confucians and agnostics loved one another? What if we evangelicals, fundamentalists, and liberals loved one another? What if God’s people of all faiths loved one another? Would we miss the illusion of superiority? Would we miss the exhilaration of judging others? Would we miss the view from higher moral ground? Would we miss the thrill of killing them with swords or words? What if we white and black loved one another? What if we black and yellow loved one another? What if we yellow, red and brown loved one another? What if we Europeans, Asians, Africans and Latinos loved one another? What if God’s children of every color and nation loved one another? Would we miss the illusion of superiority? Would we miss the exhilaration of judging others? Would we miss the view from the higher moral ground? Would we miss the thrill of killing them with swords or words? What if we old and young loved one another? What if we single or married loved one another? What if we without academic degrees loved one another? What if we straight and gay loved one another? What if we female and male loved one another? What if we blue collar and white collar loved one another? What if God’s daughters and sons of every label loved one another? Would we miss the illusion of superiority? Would we miss the exhilaration of judging others? Would we miss the view from the higher moral ground? © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Deeper Truth of Incarnation Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Would we miss the thrill of killing them with swords or words? September 11th showed us what love’s absence can do. The days after have shown us what happens when love is activated, superiority stifled by the quiet but tireless power of humility, judgment overruled by the celebration of diversity that enriches us. Higher ground was held only by those tired, dusty heroes who emptied themselves in service, blood-red battlefields transformed into green meadows of mercy and healing. What if we loved one another? What if we started with simple respect? What if we humans become what we are intended to be? Would God’s people of all faith languages worship in unison? Would God’s children of every color compose one picture? Would God’s daughters and sons of every label celebrate as siblings? Would we then finally understand the meaning of incarnation? Of God with us? Of God in us? Of human divinity? © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent IV Scripture Text I John 1:1-4, 4:7-8, John 1:1-5, 14-18 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20021222 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-12-22 Title A name given to the resource The Deeper Truth of Incarnation Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 22, 2002 entitled "The Deeper Truth of Incarnation", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I John 1:1-4, 4:7-8, John 1:1-5, 14-18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Incarnation Way of Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb57ab8d16fd8f49b885969e573a4c40.jpg 4af178c525854d58581b3a717958fba7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Misc_The-DePree-Chemicals Title A name given to the resource The DePree Chemicals Description An account of the resource Photograph of the "Michigan Indoor Champions" the DePree Chemicals, which is presumably an indoor baseball team. All but one man, who is wearing a suit, are in uniforms and cleets, and the boy seated in front has several baseball bats on his lap. There is some damage to the top right. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Baseball Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of History as part of the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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/55841695425903d393e0d9c42e6beba7.mp3 aaf308b45480b680f29037acf8aceaf9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d1252e5f8978008830c8c117cc2b798.pdf 160625694162c7e874504fc9749588e6 PDF Text Text The Destabilizing, Troubling God From the series: Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Luke 19:35-20:2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 4, 2004 Palm Sunday Transcription of the spoken sermon The Gospel lesson that I read is really my favorite Palm Sunday passage. It's a very moving passage, such a poignant moment. By the time that Luke wrote that Gospel, of course, it was a half century since Jesus had lived and approached Jerusalem. Luke did not have to make Jesus a predictor of the future as he foresaw the devastation that would befall that city. For Luke, as he wrote, it was history. Jerusalem was an ash heap. The temple was no more. It was no longer the center of the ritual life of Israel. It wasn't even a significant center for the Jesus Movement at that point. Although Luke has him looking over the city and predicting the devastation, he did not have to have some kind of supernatural power to do that, for it must have been obvious to such a sensitive soul that there would be this moment of conflagration in wake of the confrontation that was inevitable. And so, he has Jesus weeping over the city, saying "If only you had recognized the things that make for peace." But, it was too late. In any given historical moment and situation, it can be too late to do the things that make for peace. In the words of Yogi Berra, I wonder on Palm Sunday, "Déja vu all over again?" Will the cycle of violence, the violence of the occupier continue to elicit the violence of the occupied, which in turn, will elicit greater violence by the occupier? Will the imperial power with its brand of violence through exploitation and domination always oppress to the point where there will be violence in return, which in turn will demand a greater expression of violence? What do you think? Do you think that it's just always going to be that way? Are you a kind of a realist who shrugs their shoulders and says, "Well, that's the human situation. It's always been that way; it's always going to be that way." Or, another possibility is that you may be one of the minority who really believe that we are on a course to destruction, maybe some global nuclear catastrophe, or © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 2 maybe just the continual fouling of the earth, the air, the water. Do you perhaps fall into that group that sees doom down the line? Or, do you think that maybe we'll get on top of this? Do you think maybe, given enough time, given enough ingenuity, resource, power, finally we'll be able to bring some kind of humane, global community to birth? What do you think? What do you think? You know there's always been a dream deep down in the human heart, a dream of an alternative possibility, a dream of an alternative world. I think, for example, of the Hebrew prophets - they were such towering figures. We modern folks sometimes think that the world just arrived in our coming and that we're so smart, but 2500 years ago a magnificent dream of another possibility found expression through, for example, Isaiah, who envisioned a new creation, who envisioned a world in which people would plant gardens and eat the produce thereof and build houses and be able to dwell in them. He envisioned a world in which the lion and the lamb would lie down together and no one would hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain. Or Micah, who envisioned a world in which swords would be beaten into plowshares and every person would sit under his own fig tree and dwell in safety. Those were ancient dreams. The intuition of the human heart is known for a long time. With the violence and the destruction, war, domination and exploitation, oppression, suffering and tragedy - people have known for generations and millennia that there ought to be another possibility. The Hebrew prophets, as I said, were dreamers. They dreamed about Shalom. They had hope in history. The prophets spoke about judgment. They called the people to account and they were quick to point out where the covenant was broken. But, in the Hebrew prophet, judgment was always in order to restore and to renew. Judgment was always in order to turn and to call to repentance in order that there might again be established that covenant. Judgment was never absolute with the Hebrew prophet because the Hebrew prophet had hope in history, because that prophet believed in the movement of God in history. The prophet had hope in the historical process. There's another biblical model, however, and that's the model of the apocalyptist, for example, a John the Baptist. The apocalyptist despaired of history. He threw up his hands. He lost hope. He simply despaired of the possibility of any kind of amelioration within the process of history itself The apocalyptist threw up his hands, despaired, and cried unto God to do something, to intervene dramatically. When Walter Wink was here, he suggested that the apocalyptist created that vision in order that people might be shocked and turn around. I'm not sure he's right about that. I think the apocalyptist had so given up on history and the possibility of any kind of renewal, that he said, "God, how long, how long? Do something!" And when I read the apocalyptist in scripture, I get the sense that he © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 3 can hardly wait, because, of course, he is the righteous and it is the wicked, the other that will be damned. So, there is that dualism in apocalyptic literature. The Book of Revelation is an apocalyptic reading in the New Testament with its visions of the gore of the judgment of God when the city will run with blood up to the halter of the horse. There is a kind of celebration in that. The apocalyptist, in contrast to the Hebrew prophet who had hope in history, was despairing of history and saying, "God, bring down the curtain of history. Damn the wicked, and vindicate your people!" Both the Hebrew prophet and the apocalyptist shared the conviction that, finally, God would intervene one way or another. The attitude was totally different, the spirit was different, the vision was different, but both of them had a sense that God was the sovereign of history who would eventually bring all things to consummation. That particular biblical vision was secularized in the modern period, particularly in the 19th century with the dawning of historical consciousness and the idea of evolution that was everywhere. The climate of opinion of all thinking people was shaped by the idea of evolution, evolutionary development, the 18th- century Enlightenment and then in the 19th century, for example, Charles Darwin and the "Origin of the Species," and there was a great optimism that arose. This was a secularized vision, really, of the biblical paradigm, but it would come now through education and human progress and human invention and ingenuity. As the 20th century dawned, Protestantism had moved to a classic liberal phase. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man was the great model. There was this great anticipation. I still subscribe to the most well-respected journal of Christianity, The Christian Century. It was named as the 20th-Century dawned. This would be the "Christian Century," and there was a great optimism about the human possibility. There was a kind of secularization of the biblical vision. But, here, too, in a secular way through progress and education, we were moving toward the kingdom of God. And then the 20th century - World War I in the second decade of that century. During that same decade, the Communist Revolution and eventually the Stalinist Communist regime with millions and millions and millions of people annihilated. Then the rise of Fascism in Germany, the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Holocaust, the Second World War, the chaos of a world in the grips of devastation and violence. And the Cold War and the nuclear standoff of terror, the balance of terror. And '89 wasn't it, when the Berlin Wall went down and then the Balkans, after a bit of euphoria, exploded? Then Desert Storm. The 21st century dawns and 9-11 happens, and there is Iraq and there is Madrid, smoldering a second time. And in Falluga last week four American mercenaries are killed and their bodies are desecrated and there is rejoicing in the street, young men celebrating because the mighty have fallen and there has been pain and a wound inflicted on the great Satan. Well, what do you think? Do you think it's just always going to be this way? Where the occupying violence elicits violence from the occupied, which calls forth © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 4 increased violence from the occupier? Of course. Of course. Our leaders tells us that Falluga will not intimidate us and our resolve is firm and we are poised to make a statement violently. That, I suppose, is necessary in order to remind the occupied that violence won't work. But, violence does work, for the terrorist is not an animal, the terrorist is a human being who in his own way has despaired like the apocalyptist, only he has taken God's role into his own hands. He is a freedom fighter of sorts. He is an idealist, a dreamer, except his dream has been crushed. Those young men celebrating in the streets - it's a terrible thing, it's an awful thing. And after we feel the horror of it, we get very angry about it, but those kids are just kids, and they are doing what happens sometimes in a soccer game in Europe where they get to rioting after England and France have played, and if we don't know that, within our own hearts, there dwells the potential for the very same kind of exuberant celebration in the light of the putting down of the big one, then we don't know ourselves very well. Those boys who appeared on television are mothers' sons, you know, nurtured in a culture of Saddamic oppression, and now occupied by the mightiest power on earth. What do you think? Is it just always going to go on this way? I entitled the sermon "The Destabilizing, Troubling God," and I was thinking about Jesus as the embodiment of God. Kings and empires don't appreciate destabilizers and troublers. Old King Ahab, who was the epitome of the worst king of Israel, when he met the prophet Elijah, said, "Oh, thou troubler of Israel," and Elijah had to say to him, "Ah, King, I'm not the troubler of Israel." The prophet would speak the word of God into the established, structured situation where that situation had become oppressive or dominating, where that structure had become defeating of the human possibility. And then in the name of the God of justice and righteousness and compassion, the prophet would roar. Kings don't like prophets, and empires don't welcome prophets. It was obvious that the temple establishment and the Roman imperial authority had to get their heads together and do something about Jesus. People were spellbound by him because somehow or other he addressed people in such a way that he elicited from them their humanity, their deeper humanity, and he gave them again some reason to hope and some new possibility. His action in Jerusalem, which was the culmination of that long journey there, was destabilizing and troubling. Not to the people, but to the established authority who had a vested interest in keeping the status quo. Ah, don't we long for stasis? Status quo? Stability? We're willing almost to give up all of our rights if we could just find some methodology by which there could be guaranteed to us absolute security. If we could just get back to normal, if the world could just be turned back again to where you could go about doing your business or travel where you wanted to travel without worrying about boarding a plane or a train, or what the next CNN report might have to say, where you could © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 5 just get on with your life like it used to be, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could return to normalcy? Well, let's turn up the pressure. Let's turn the screws. Let's get stronger, more powerful. Let's dare the violent terrorist to raise his head. That's been the pattern for thousands of years, hasn't it? And the world has always been violent, but it's just that we have the potential now to do it so much better. We can do it so much more broadly. We can do it with so much more devastation. We can wipe out continents today, so why don't we just continue to do like we've always done? What do you think? Is that a possibility? Would that work? Can we finally effect transformation that way? As I come to the end of my ministry, I am so amazed at the impotence of the Church, and this country is the most religious in the modern, industrialized world. I am so amazed how we have been co-opted by the powers that be. We claim to follow Jesus. Well, we've made of him a savior figure to deal with us individually in our sin problem, but I suspect, as Jesus was weeping over Jerusalem, he wasn't worrying about what Mel Gibson says he was worried about, that is that he was going to bear the sin of the world as a sacrifice to God, but I suspect really what he was worried about was the absolute, tragic devastation that was going to be visited on this holy city, this heart of Israel, his people. His despair was the fact that no one was working toward peace, but rather, the powers that be were working at the status quo which was a continuation of the domination system. I think that's why he wept. I suspect he weeps still. Do you know a better way? I know you can identify with the dream. I know you wish there were peace and normalcy and I believe you are people of good heart who wish it for all people everywhere, which of course you do. Then, how long will we continue to operate under the myth of redemptive violence, that one more show of force or one more war or one more military escapade will finally bring peace? When will we find something inside us so stirred and transformed that we will as a people rise up and say, "You only find peace not by preparing for war, but by working toward peace." André Trochmé was a French Reformed pastor during the Second World War who saved scores and scores of Jewish people. He was a pacifist and was interned and, while he was in the camp, Stalingrad fell to the Germans. The Germans rejoiced and someone said to Trochmé, "You pacifist, if you had been in Stalingrad, should they have defended themselves? Or should they just have given up?" He said, "No. Of course, they had to defend themselves, because by the time the siege was laid, it was too late." You don't get into the crisis itself and then decide to lay down your arms. You work toward a situation where you avoid that moment, because then it's too late. That's what Jesus said - "If only you could have seen the things that make for peace, but it's too late." Do you know that there is only one nation on earth that can change the ongoing scenario of violence begetting violence begetting more violence? There's only one © Grand Valley State University �Destabilizing, Troubling God Richard A. Rhem Page 6 nation on earth that can alter that, and you know who it is. We who have power, wealth and dominance beyond anybody who is even close to second place are the only people on earth who could lead a global movement against violence, for an alternative method for the relating of the human family. This morning as I sat in my loft, it was still dark, and I looked out the window over the lake and suddenly smoky clouds cleared and there was this magnificent moon all ready to set into the sea. And a little later, behind me was the rising of this golden sun in crystal clear air. As I looked out my window, the pussy willow was in blossom and the daffodils are trying to push their way into bloom, and I thought to myself "What a wonderful world!" And when you add to the wonder of earth coming alive the possibility for human relationship, for love and grace, embrace, Oh dear God, let us not let it all come to ashes. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday Series Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God Scripture Text Luke 19:35-20:2 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20040404 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2004-04-04 Title A name given to the resource The Destabilizing, Troubling God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 4, 2004 entitled "The Destabilizing, Troubling God", as part of the series "Remembering Jesus, Experiencing God", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, Passion Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:35-20:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eschatology Grace Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ca42644c383418158d2d380c040df47e.pdf 8b3936a2a36beb2a8ee986a1f4cc65d0 PDF Text Text The Divine Dilemma: The Human Paradox Text: Matthew 1:23; II Corinthians 12:9-10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Christmastide, December 29, 1996 Transcription of the spoken sermon Søren Kierkegaard was an interesting Danish thinker, Christian, philosopher, theologian. He thought a lot about the divine-human relationship and he told a story one time about a king who had the misfortune of falling in love. He fell in love with a peasant woman, and for a king to fall in love with a peasant woman is to create a great problem. It is a royal dilemma, for kings ought to know better than to fall in love. When one falls in love, one loses control. When one falls in love, one is tempted to do foolish things. When one falls in love, one no longer operates rationally, using one’s head. One leads from the heart and it creates all kinds of difficulties. Anyone who wants a smooth ride, a well-managed life, free of pain, would be well advised never to fall in love. But, especially if you're a king, because if you're a king, there is an added dimension to the dilemma. You see, the king knew that he had the power to command the woman's presence. But, when you're in love, the only thing that will satisfy you is love in return. We know that, don't we? The only thing that satisfies the deep yearning of love is to be loved by the beloved, freely and spontaneously in return. The king understood his problem. He called all his wise advisers around him that they might strategize with him as to how he could win the love of this peasant woman so that it would really be her love. Well, they came up with all kinds of schemes, as you can imagine. That's what they were paid for; that's what they were kept in the king's care for, in order to help him out in difficult situations. And so, they devised one strategy after another. Arrive at her door in a golden coach, dazzle her with diamonds. They say that diamonds will do anything. But, the king was in love. His advisers were not. They were using their head, and he knew that what he really wanted was her heart, and he knew that not even a king can command love. Being frustrated by their ill counsel, it finally dawned on him. One evening he slipped out the back door of the palace, evaded the Secret Service agents and made his way, dressed as a peasant, to the door of the cottage of the woman he loved. And he knocked on the door and offered his heart and asked if he might come and dwell with her. © Grand Valley State University   �Divine Dilemma; Human Paradox Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Well, if you want to know how it came out, come next week. But, you can see the analogy to the divine dilemma that God dealt with at Christmas. Because if it doesn't help to be a king when you're in love, it helps even less to be God, because if God is the incurable lover that the biblical story tells us of, then God has a problem, for the one thing that God cannot command is the freely offered and spontaneous love of the other. And so, of course, at Christmas time, we speak of incarnation, we speak of how God came to dwell in one of our kind, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone in order that the eternal and infinite One might be localized in the person of Jesus; in order that the Eternal God, the Infinite One might have a face, a face with which we might fall in love. God becoming one with us, identifying with us, making God's love known to us in the deep passionate hope that we might love God in return, because it doesn't help to be God when you're in love because Love is a thing that is not even at God's disposal. When one is in love then, as the king knew, the only love that can satisfy the deep ache in the heart is the freely offered love of the one beloved. Well, the king was foolish, of course, to fall in love. He might better have been, as that famous king of Persia, Ahasuerus, whose wife was Vashti. Ahasuerus, the king of the great Persian empire, called on all of his generals and all of his officials from across the empire and threw a great party. They knew how to do it better than we. They partied for seven days. And Vashti, the queen, was quite willing to go along with this. She even entertained the spouses of the officials. But, on the seventh day when the food had been plenty and the wine had flowed liberally and the king was feeling no pain, he wanted one last time to impress all of the company gathered around his table. He wanted his queen Vashti, known for her striking beauty, to come on and be on display. Well Vashti said, "It's a pretty good deal here, but enough is enough," and she said no. The king was enraged to be turned down by his queen. And so, he called his counselors and he said to them, "What should I do? What has she done?" They said, "What she has done is very serious, for she has not only disobeyed you and offended you. She has set a precedent in not obeying her husband and, if it should leak out of the palace, the whole of society should go down the tubes. There would be no more family values if women are not subservient to their husbands." (Oh, come on now. That's funny!) Well, in the case of Ahasuerus and Vashti, they had a royal connection and a royal arrangement. Vashti had a role to play and, as long as she played her role, she got her baubles. And when she didn't play her role anymore, the king simply dumped her. No problem, because he didn't love her. He simply held a beauty contest, the first Miss America contest held in the ancient world, and of course, you know the story. Esther, the beautiful Esther, the Jewish young lady was chosen as the queen for her beauty. She comes into the court and eventually - I'll tell you the ending - she saved her people and is celebrated for that fact. The point is this: between a king and a queen there cannot afford to be love because arrangements, relationships get fouled up when love is involved, because © Grand Valley State University �Divine Dilemma; Human Paradox Richard A. Rhem Page 3   love makes one vulnerable and love puts one out of control, and, therefore, a wise sovereign will put love on the back burner. The story of Christmas is the story of God Who is a hopeless and incurable lover, who was willing to yield sovereignty in order so radically to identify with the other, the creature, that the creature might be put on a level playing ground with the Creator. Well, now, that's a radical statement, but I want you to think about it with me this morning. This was the divine dilemma. If it is true that God is a God of passionate love, Whose yearning for the other knows no limits, then God has a problem, because there is no way that a king, human or divine, can be certain of the freely offered love of the other unless there comes to be a kind of equality , an even playing ground, where the love of the lover is displayed with a human face to which the other may love in return or say no. Matthew's Gospel, the birth story of Jesus, picks up that name Emmanuel. Emmanuel is reflective of the old tradition of Israel that knew God as a lover, as One yearning for God's people. Emmanuel - God with us, a sign back in ancient Israel, a child so named in order that the king might constantly be reminded in the presence of the child that God is with us, God is with us, God is with us, even when the king was not interested in having God with them. He would rather have had Egypt with them. Emmanuel - God with us - the Gospel writers said, was the reality of Christmas, that now the eternal One dwelt in the human form and we beheld grace and glory in a human face, because the whole biblical story is the story of a divine dilemma, of a God Who loves and will be satisfied with nothing less than the love of the other. The Gospels say it. And then I think of the first letter of John, the 4th chapter. John is the one who writes, "God is love," and he says no one has ever seen God, but 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. This is the John of "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us so," that we might translate it, “Love became flesh and dwelt among us,” so that those who look into the face of Jesus and fall in love, are falling in love with God, but on an equal playing ground, because only love freely offered, only love spontaneously given will really satisfy the heart of one who is in love. This was God's problem. Of course, that created a second facet of the divine dilemma, because then God had to create another over against God's self to whom God could give love and from whom God could receive love. But, to create one like that was to create an awesome creature. That's why that biblical phrase that the human person was created in the image of God says something very profound. It says that the human creature is the mirror image of God. God created one over against God's self to be in relationship with, and the only other that would be worthy of the love of God would be an other who had the dignity to say, "Yes," freely and spontaneously, but to be able to say "Yes" freely and spontaneously, genuinely to love God would also be to have the possibility of © Grand Valley State University �Divine Dilemma; Human Paradox Richard A. Rhem Page 4   saying "No" to God. It is part of the human dignity of the human person that we can say no to God. This, of course, was the risk of the whole creative venture of God, the whole impulse to create, the calling into being that which was not, the out flowing of the love of God, God's breath, God's spirit lacing the other with life, sustaining the other in life - that whole episode was fraught with the possibility of disaster, because if you create another that is another worthy enough to love, a worthy lover, then you have created the possibility of one who can say no. In fact, you have created the possibility of one who just might play God. I think that's what the Apostle Paul understood. Paul, I think, from what I read and sense in the New Testament, was one that would not have minded a day or two running the universe. Paul always wanted to fix everything. First of all, he wanted to make the whole world Jewish. And then he wanted to make the whole world Christian. He was an accident going about to happen; he was feverishly fanatical, not always right, but always certain. And I suppose it came from the fact that he had had such an experience of the wonder and glory of God. When he's in trouble in the Corinthian congregation and he must defend his apostleship and his ministry, he tells them something he says that happened fourteen years before. "I've never spoken of it," he says, "I don't even know if I was in the body or out of the body. It was totally ecstatic. It was a vision. It was a kind of experience about which one simply cannot speak. But," he said, "I had that." And then he says with, I think, some real insight, knowing his own tendency to like to run the universe, to play God, "In order to keep my feet on the ground, I was given a thorn in the flesh." We don't know what it was, but it must have been something with which the Apostle Paul agonized, creating great pain, creating embarrassment, great humiliation, who knows? And he said, "It was so bad that I urgently prayed to God to remove that thorn, until I came to understand. I heard the voice of Jesus say, 'My grace is sufficient for you; my strength is made perfect in weakness.'" Or, I like the New English translation: "My grace is enough." You can take that with you for 1997 - "My grace is enough." Paul says, "You know, I came to understand that it was in my very brokenness that I experienced the love and grace of God that enabled me to be whole, to be strong, to love, to be gracious." The human paradox is that, having been created, this awesome creature that can stand over against God and say "Yes" to God or to say "No" to God, this human creature who can seek to usurp the place of God, try his hand at playing God, this human creature is resistant to the very thing that God would give, in that haughty posture, in that God-like frame of mind. And so, Paul says, "The very thing I dreaded, the very thing I sought to have removed was the thing that was the minister to me of a grace that enabled me to see God's love for me such as I had never known it before." That's the human paradox. The very thing that we are inclined to do to secure ourselves, to build walls against the world, to make certain that we are in control © Grand Valley State University �Divine Dilemma; Human Paradox Richard A. Rhem Page 5   and that we can manage and on a good day, try our hand at running the universe, that very posture is what keeps us from the deep experience of God's love and grace. It's really quite fascinating that the divine dilemma issued not only in God's identification with us in the flesh of Jesus, but that identification was so complete that when the human rebellion rose up to reject that offer in the face of Jesus, the lover God withheld His hand and allowed the word made flesh to be rejected, even to the point of crucifixion, so that we can speak of the crucified God. Such a lover that God would suffer rather than crush and strike out and cut off the possibility that ultimately the lovers will find each other. I suppose that simply is another instance of the fact that love always involves suffering, because it will not control, coerce, overpower or abandon. Ah, if only we could play God for a day. If only we could realize the impetus of our hearts to secure ourselves, to guarantee ourselves against suffering and hurt. If only we could keep our hearts, not lose our heads, and manage our lives. But, you see, the story of Christmas is the story of a crucified God, identifying with us, dying in order to show us that there is only one thing that will satisfy the divine yearning. It is when at the cottage door of our hearts there comes the knock of a God veiled in flesh who says, "I would come in and dwell with you." And we say, "Come in. Dwell with us." That is Christmas. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/725cca6c33ac0a00a96e02cef79dd94a.mp3 4f3d6938468c445efc7109c4276e4506 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide I Scripture Text II Corinthians 12:1-10, Matthew 1:18-25 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19961229 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996-12-29 Title A name given to the resource The Divine Dilemma: The Human Paradox Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 29, 1996 entitled "The Divine Dilemma: The Human Paradox", on the occasion of Christmastide I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 12:1-10, Matthew 1:18-25. God of Love Grace Incarnation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/283823ecfc84917cad143f51f4e074c5.mp3 21e72bfb05cd2f9da2cc186bc77afc98 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent IV Scripture Text John 1:14, Revelation 21:3 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19871220 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-12-20 Title A name given to the resource The Divine Intervention Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 1987 entitled "The Divine Intervention", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:14, Revelation 21:3. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/60995f157a250427db9d4a254514444f.jpg 1b1fa32425c992609792c6647c326b26 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS3537.U946 D66 1906 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0350 Title A name given to the resource The Doomsman Description An account of the resource Binding of The Doomsman, by Van Tassel Sutphen, published by Harper and Brothers, 1906. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1906 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/e6e0aefd8ce208e617ed5d5f9024f6a2.jpg ead512cf1308285d8553dcf4f3d2904e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Pie-Factory-38 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lloyd J. Harris Pie Co. Title A name given to the resource The Dough Room Description An account of the resource A photo of a man operating a dough machine. The caption reads: "This machine has been imported from Switzerland. It duplicates the hand motion of mixing dough which is by far the most superior. Note special device for counting strokes to insure uniformity of mix." Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Factories Bakeries Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b062560a15b96ab3e2ce1d7baeefe6b2.jpg f9eb48b5bfed2fa0ef73d0a153dd47f9 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS1085.B63 D69 1903 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0453 Title A name given to the resource The Dowager Countess and the American Girl Description An account of the resource Binding of The Dowager Countess and the American Girl, by Lilian Bell, published by Harper & Brothers Company, 1903. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1903 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/2e31a4b702d0cb9f5551cf93fd77a735.pdf 2e4e68e4d92dc1970b084ad89b322a27 PDF Text Text The Dream of Peace Christmas Eve Service Text: Micah 5:5; Luke 2:15 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 24, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "... and he shall be the one of peace." Micah 5:5 "... and on earth peace..." Luke 2:15 The Christmas Gospel seems to be such a warm and cozy message. But as a matter of fact I think, if we really see it in its context, it was a strong political statement. Luke pitted the Gospel of peace that came through Jesus over against the peace of the Roman Empire—the Pax Romano, that two hundred year period of relative peace in the ancient world that was made possible through the government of imperial Rome. Peace has been an ancient dream. I wonder how old it is? I suppose it goes back to the very first folk who experienced violence and terror, and began to live with insecurity. There must have always been something in the depths of the human soul that yearned for peace. It is a very deep primal longing of the human heart— the longing for peace. Personal peace surely, but wellbeing and peace in the community of people, the nations. Israel's dreamers dreamed of peace in a world that was very much like our world, the rise of one empire and the fall of another, the smaller people squeezed between the paws of the great powers. There were those poets and dreamers in Israel who had a vision of a different kind of world. Micah was one such. In the fourth chapter of his prophecy we read, "In the days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains." And then he goes on to envision Mt. Zion as that highest point of the world toward which all of the nations would flow and learn the law and the truth of God. He goes on to say,"they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; and nations shall not lift up swords against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." One of Israel's poets, one of the ancient world's dreamers who looked about him and said, "You know, there's a different kind of a world that is possible. There's a different kind of a world that ought to be." © Grand Valley State University   �The Dream of Peace Richard A. Rhem Page 2   It's interesting that it wasn't only Israel's dreamers and poets, but the great Roman poet Virgil, in the year 41-42 BC in his fourth epilogue, announces the birth of a World Savior. He announces in this poem the coming era of peace. It comes through the birth of a child he says, and probably the child that he had in mind was Octavian. Octavian was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar adopted Octavian as his own son, and when Virgil wrote this poem and gave expression to this vision of a child being born into the world to save the world and bring it peace, he very likely had Octavian in mind. But as he wrote, Julius Caesar was assassinated. There ensued fifteen years of terrible civil war. It was only in 29 BC when Octavian came back to Rome, the victor, having defeated Anthony and Cleopatra, that he becomes ruler and Caesar. Whether or not Octavian took the poem of Virgil as his destiny, I don't know. But his very first official act in 29 BC was to close the temple of Janus, the double-faced God of war. And he continued to strive to create peace. In the year 9 BC Octavian Augustus, called Augustus Caesar now, dedicated the great Augustine Altar of Peace and what ensued was what the historians call the Pax Romano, the Roman peace. In 1890, in Asia Minor, there was discovered an inscription, an inscription to Augustus the Son of God. Julius Caesar had been elevated to the status of a state god after his assassination and his adopted son Augustus, thus was Son of God. This inscription that was discovered in 1890, and subsequently in other places as well, proclaimed to the eastern world, peace through this Savior who would fulfill the dreams of humankind. Ancestral hopes would be realized, and the broken world would be mended and healed. If this proclamation came out of Asia Minor, and if Caesar Augustus dedicated the Great Altar of Peace about 9 BC, we can be fairly certain that Luke, who writes the story of Jesus was aware of it because, when he tells us about the story of Jesus, he tells us that Caesar Augustus was in power and Quirinius was the Roman Governor, and all the world was called to be taxed. Luke sets the birth of Jesus in the context of a Roman world, in the context of a Roman peace, in the context of an ancient world in which had been proclaimed the Saviorhood and the peace-bringing of one, Caesar Augustus. It was a legitimate dream of peace. It was an expression of a universal, human yearning, longing for a different kind of a world. But the peace of Caesar Augustus was a different peace than the peace of Jesus. So I have to believe that Luke was making a political statement. I think he was juxtaposing the peace of Jesus over against the peace of Caesar Augustus, because the peace of Caesar Augustus was not the peace of Micah, the prophet. The peace of Caesar Augustus was an enforced peace; it was a peace that was a consequence of the heavy hand of Rome that could enforce its edicts with its legions. It kept the world at bay. There was some great benefit of that, to be sure, but it was not the peace that comes from human community built on justice of the heart, of which the prophets dreamed. It was not the peace in which swords are changed to plowshares and spears to pruning hooks. It was not the world in which the nations learned war no more. © Grand Valley State University �The Dream of Peace Richard A. Rhem Page 3   No, Luke was writing of the birth of One, from the other end of the story, because remember, Luke wrote about 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 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. Two thousand years later the peace of which Luke spoke, peace that would come through this Jesus, has not been realized. There may be relative peace in Bosnia Hertsogovenia tonight, but it’s a very fragile thing. We all have been disturbed by the anguish of those people suffering because of an ongoing war. Strife, violence, killing. The earth is soaked with blood. 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 of 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 what was it? 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 evaporated, allowing 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 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. Will that peace ever come? I really don't know. I am not so sure that we are moving inevitably toward that universal Shalom. It doesn't seem that we are a lot farther along than the ancient Roman world, the Pax Romano, peace by dent of force. Will the prophet’s dream ever be realized? There is a song we sing sometimes, "Let there be peace on earth," and then it says "and let it begin with me." Maybe it has to begin in the chambers of the human heart of each one of us, where we give ourselves unreservedly to the building of community and to standing against all forces of human domination, standing against all of that that robs any person of their humanity. For Luke, the telling of the Christmas story from the perspective of Easter, from the perspective of Good Friday and Easter, was telling of the Gospel, that peace is © Grand Valley State University �The Dream of Peace Richard A. Rhem Page 4   possible for those who were willing to die—to self, to all selfish pursuit, to all domination of another, who will live in community. That is the only way to peace. Isn't it interesting that as far back as we go, whether in biblical lore or in the poetry of the rest of the world, there has been a dream, a longing dream of peace. Why can't we make it happen? Maybe we will never be able to do more than to make it happen within our own lives and let it ripple out from there. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/99dedec21546006c5014a7c124655484.mp3 0f9de7633fea45038484decf9947bd01 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmas Eve Scripture Text Micah 5:5, Luke 2:14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19941224 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-12-24 Title A name given to the resource The Dream of Peace Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 24, 1994 entitled "The Dream of Peace", on the occasion of Christmas Eve, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 5:5, Luke 2:14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Christmas Eve Community Justice Peae Prophetic Voice Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/94813e0af72015b27fc8ea48a5de719c.jpg 1056a1a6bc1acb70b585a18439985a7f 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 Decorated Publishers' Bindings Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Description An account of the resource From the early 1870s to roughly 1930, many publishers issued their commercial book covers with a remarkable variety of graphic designs and illustrations. This sixty-year period saw many artists and designers contributing to this art form. While some can be identified from their style or initials, others remain unknown. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection Michigan Novels Collection Regional Historical Collection Lincoln and the Civil War Collection Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-08-30 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>, <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source Seidman Rare Books. PS1064.B3 D74 1899 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-01_Bindings0157 Title A name given to the resource The Dreamers: A Club Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Panfield, Edward Description An account of the resource Binding of The Dreamers: A Club, by John Kendrick Bangs, published by Harper & Brothers, 1899. Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Pictorial bindings Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1899 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/cf0851821f78c429c0490d60a4860cbe.jpg d65fbd5e01d6e1bdb41c230c25db853d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-DouglasDunes_0034 Title A name given to the resource The Dunes Description An account of the resource Photograph of Douglas Dunes Resort showing a small one-story building with a teal roof and there is a car parked out front. The left side of the building has a sign which reads "The Dunes." Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Douglas (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich) Motels Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by the Saugatuck Douglas History Center as part of the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c536a93f90b618e43ac551d5fbdf52c.pdf 19187364eae2e91d3d7d1c42a65879d4 PDF Text Text .~he -2nd Oun es Annua I In vi-Cat iona I Volleyball ftournamen-l • June 12 i 13 , 1982 • Re'J is t r(X, t. /on fee ..f45.oo pe.r tQa..m • Trophies a.nd casA. I or /st, 21'Z d a..nd. 3rd /'lace. # # # • S/yn U/J nolU for a.., 7reat t ourna,,n-,ent at the va..cat/on center of ihe Midwest • Disco •Teo.. Dance • Pa.tio bar• Pool • .S°i ~ ~o~~ lo...sf u 11 Sca.rvice diriin9 v-oorn rEAM NANE: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _--tl RooJ??S a.t Dou.1/a.s 01AneS ulee/4encl Pa.cha..<Je ~· I CAPTAI Al: - - - - - - - - - - 41 Fr/-Sc,.,t-Sun- ~hec/4. out 6,'00 on S1..1n. (2. t:toql,/e /,ed.s) AIJLJRESS :Ba,sen,ent Room.! - I O(u.,6/e D YES, we are con,/n9 . - Re 71'.st e ~ /,'I. ;T1,111e I, 1982 . ,_tf'e71'.1trat/011 AmfJunt Jun e 7, 1982. du e pr/va.te room wlth ;,ul,//c /J 0t.th .f //O ,oo oJe.eh.enal,. /,ecL ; " • o..ll rooms Serve<:l l✓-r.1-c come ,6a..s/s • l/rs t ale l, a.,, v e, J'eveJ"a../ other jl.lo..//t y lool.91}19,S a.v0-.//a..6/e when we - Pie.a-Se et-du/se us of 'loqr needs.' a.,re lull,, P. o. BOX 3,b SDOUG LAS, Mi. ~9406 PHONE ((, I {,) 857- 140 1 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-DouglasDunes_0006 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-06 Title A name given to the resource The Dunes Volleyball Tournament Description An account of the resource Advertisement flier for the 2nd Annual Invitational Volleyball Tournament at The Dunes resort in Douglas, Michigan, which took place on June 12-13, 1982. The flier includes information about tournament registration as well as booking rooms for the weekend. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Douglas (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich) Advertising fliers Motels Gay culture Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by the Saugatuck Douglas History Center as part of the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e13be144461a036a48d9b46bebd454fb.jpg 4e07eebb5db8ca30bf6f4cec62c4c480 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_M124-0015 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource The Eagle and Child Pub, Oxford, England Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of an interior view of "The Eagle and Child" pub on the St. Giles' boulevard of Oxford, England. The Eagle and Child pub is known for having associations with "The Inklings," the infamous writers' group and literary circle during the 1930's and 1940's at the University of Oxford. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Bars (Drinking establishments)--England--Oxford Inklings (Group of writers) Oxford (England) Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives