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The Grace to Embrace the Future
Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 2:25-35
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Christmastide, December 28, 2003
Transcription of the spoken sermon
I've been looking forward to this last Lord's Day of the year, this Christmastide
Sunday. I knew a couple of months ago when I was trying to decide what the
preaching would be that I would want to conclude the season with the story of
Simeon, an old man with whom I can identify. I identify with him not because the
description fits me. He was righteous and devout. But, I can identify with him in
the sense that for all of his life he had been engaged in waiting and watching and
praying and yearning for the realization of that realm of God, that rule of peace
and shalom.
It is a beautiful story that Luke relates to us. He begins his Gospel with a preface
that parades before us some of the beautiful old saints who, in their quiet way,
had been praying and watching and waiting for God's big move, and Simeon is
one of those beautiful examples who comes in old age, nudged by the Holy Spirit,
into the temple to find there a child. He takes the child in his arms and he sees
the future, and he praises God, saying, "I'm ready for my discharge. Now let your
servant depart in peace." The literal language is that Simeon had been in the role
of a sentinel watching for the kingdom. Now as his eyes beheld this child, the
intuition of the Holy Spirit said, "The future is now in your arms in this little
one," and Simeon blessed God and with great grace, embraced the future.
Grace is a word that we've used here over all these many years, thinking
particularly of God's disposition to all people, that disposition of favor and
kindness and mercy to all. But, I use grace with just a nuance of difference this
morning in terms of the style of grace. Simeon manifests the style of grace in his
ability to let go and to embrace the future in the child. Simeon is an example of
the kind of style of grace that I think exemplifies the best in the religious life. He
was one of those watching and waiting, had served faithfully, and finally was
ready as the time came for his release and, casting his eyes upon the child, could
embrace a future that he could not see, but in which he trusted because he
believed in the God who was coming to expression in that child.
Another example of the style of grace would be the Apostle Paul who wasn't
always such a gracious fellow but, in his relationship with the congregation at
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Philippi, he had a special affectional relationship. Writing the letter from the
prison in Rome as he was about himself to be executed anytime, knowing not just
exactly what lie before him, he writes this affectional letter to them saying, "I
thank God on every remembrance of you, praying for you constantly, convinced,
confident that the God who has begun a good work in you will bring it to
completion in the day of Jesus Christ." And on this last Sunday of the year 2003,
in the midst of the Christmas season, I want to suggest to you that we are in the
process of embracing the future, and it is my sense that, characteristically, we are
embracing the future with the style of grace. The year before us is certainly a year
of transition and that transition is a major kind of transition for any community.
It reminds me of the fact that in that transition there is going to be both
continuity and change.
It was a few years ago, remember, when we had that beautiful New Testament
scholar, Bishop Stendahl here who made such an impact in his visit, who taught
me that tradition was not simply something that shaped us out of the past, but
that tradition was actually an instrument for both continuity and change,
continuity in the sense that tradition as a living tradition has shaped us, has given
us a sense of identity, has enabled us to know who we are and what we are about.
It has given us a life map; it has given us direction.
But, that very tradition is also the instrument of change. If it is a living tradition,
then it can never be frozen. It can never be set. It can never be absolutized. It is
always in motion and those who have been shaped by a living tradition have
found the grace and the freedom to continue to move, to continue to follow the
whim and the wind of the spirit, mapping out uncharted ground and sailing into
uncharted seas without fear, confident that the God of our past will be the God
who will accompany us in the future. So, there is continuity and there is change.
Ill never forget Krister Stendahl's example of the boa constrictor. He himself,
having come from Sweden and having served ten years as Bishop of Stockholm,
was very much in the native Swedish mode where life continues to move, but
sometimes he would visit relatives in Minnesota, and there an immigrant
Swedish population had tended to freeze the tradition at the point at which they
had immigrated. That's a characteristic of every immigrant people (except the
Dutch, I think.) But he told about going to Minnesota, and it was like going back
to Sweden many years before. He used the example of the boa constrictor who
slithers out of its skin and the taxidermist grabs that skin and stuffs it and puts it
in a glass case and says, "There's the snake." But, as Krister says, that's not the
snake. The snake has slithered off into the future. That's a museum piece. Part of
the tension within the Church historically has been to find that proper balance
between continuity and change. The temptation is always to freeze, to absolutize,
to remain secure and safe with that which is known and that which is familiar.
Perhaps you are aware of a current controversy in the country over the
forthcoming film, The Passion of Jesus Christ, which has been bought and paid
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for by Mel Gibson. There was an article in the Grand Haven Tribune yesterday, a
pretty good article for the Tribune, as a matter of fact. Actually I have a paper on
this whole controversy. Some scholars have looked at this film and have
despaired of the nature of this film because it has all of the old passion story as,
for example, the old Oberammergau Passion stories which were instruments by
which feelings were aroused and anti-Semitism arose causing, as James Carroll in
his Constantine's Sword has pointed out, causing people over the years in many
instances to go out of Good Friday services and to abuse and persecute Jewish
people. This film, apparently, has that kind of feel about it and there have been
those who have been trying to negotiate with Mel Gibson.
But it turns out that Mel Gibson is a part of a traditional Catholic movement. His
father is an outspoken advocate of that. This is a movement that rejects Vatican
II, that very significant Council, which had been called by Pope John XXIII from
62 to 65, in which the Catholic Church said there is salvation beyond the Catholic
Church and in which they specifically said the Jews collectively are not guilty of
the death of Jesus. Very significant moves for that Church at that time. This
traditionalist Catholic movement rejects Vatican II, rejects subsequent popes, is
very suspicious of the Vatican, and they continue to say their mass in Latin; the
priest continues to face the altar and all of that. That in itself is harmless enough.
Let that be done and let that kind of mystery and aura flow over the people. But,
when it becomes an aggressive movement that can create violence and discord,
then that kind of traditionalism becomes a very bad thing.
The Church is always in that tension, moving between continuity and change, and
we have made that journey. We have been on that journey and I have such
confidence for us in the future because we have come to know and to experience
that our passage together is, indeed, a passage, and it is a journey. We know from
whence we have come and we know that we are moving into a future which is
uncharted but in which we are confident, because the eternal God continues with
us in the future as in the past. And so, as I think about Christ Community, as I
think about a story that will be written, I realize that when that story is written I
will have been a transition figure. I will have been a bridge person between that
wonderful congregation that invited me back in 1971 which was quite traditional,
conservative, and evangelical. That congregation and that posture to this present
congregation that has moved from the kind of traditional, conservative,
supernaturalism moving toward a religious naturalism in which we see God
coming to expression in the whole cosmic tapestry and particularly in the word
made flesh, the infinite becoming finite, in the human, understanding ourselves
as the voice of God and the consciousness of God and the awareness of God, the
awareness of that splendid, grand drama of 13.7 billion years. We've made a
radical move. It has been gradual. It has been slow. It has been cautious. It has
been persistent. But, we have moved a long way as a community.
But, there is continuity because in that new understanding of reality as we have
come to understand it, we continue to find the clue to the mystery of the cosmos
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in the face of Jesus Christ. We continue to find our road map in that life of Jesus.
Simeon said, holding the child, "My eyes have seen God's salvation," and we
continue in continuity with that Christian understanding of Jesus as the way and
the truth and the life. But, there is change, as well, because we have quite a
different conception of reality. We have been trying to find a way to say God, to
re-imagine faith, to translate it into ways that resonate with our common human
experience in the contemporary situation, and that means that I am simply a
bridge, a transition person.
That also means that we haven't arrived. That means that we continue on a
journey and we move into uncharted seas, but unafraid because we are confident,
as Paul said, that the one who has begun a good work in our midst will bring it to
completion in the day of Jesus Christ, because Paul expected at any day the
curtain of history to come down. I would say we are confident because we believe
the one who is at work within us will continue to be at work within us, moving us
into the ongoing, unfolding of this cosmic journey, the contour of which we can
not begin yet to conceive of, but with Simeon, our confidence is in God. With
Paul, our confidence is in God. This congregation, having wallowed in grace, has
learned the style of grace. I hope I'll hear you repeating back to me again and
again and again - What would be the style of grace at this next juncture, and this
juncture, and this juncture, unafraid, confident, positive, moving with a style of
grace.
Growing old is wonderful and it is really a lucky person who can say that. The
down side of old age has been hugely exaggerated. I find that each decade of my
life has been richer and more exciting than the one before and there are such
advantages. On Thanksgiving we had all the kids over and I said to Nancy, "Do
you thiink they would help me get that Christmas tree at least upstairs?" Well, no
more said than done. The boys put the branches up and there were the
granddaughters winding the lights around and when they all left, the tree was a
fait accompli. Wonderful! Never had it so good. Then they were all over for
Christmas and they said, "Bumpa, Grammy, do you think we should take the tree
down?" And we said, "Oh, no, we can do that." Well, Saturday the phone rang and
Lynn said, "We're coming over to take the tree down." I said, "Wonderful." And
within an hour the whole thing was done and Christmas was over. It was just so
beautiful.
I hang out on Tuesdays at Duba's with Duncan Littlefair, age 91, and Lester
DeKoster, age 88, and I'm always impressed with the perspective of many years,
the wisdom, the equanimity with which the ongoing crises of the world are
encompassed. I've seen in Duncan Littlefair, particularly, that zest for life that
doesn't abate, that passion, that passionate engagement, and he often speaks of
the grand privilege of such a long perspective in the human story. Wonderful!
And I want to say with old Simeon, "Dear God, I've seen the future and it's good."
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Do you know that in 1971 when you invited me back I was 35 years old? In
February I turned 36 and began in March. Do you know that Ian Lawton is 35
years old, in February he will turn 36 and will begin in March? Do you suspect
that the miracle will happen all over again? I do. I can't hold that boy in my arms
and look at him, but my eyes will see the future. And we've not arrived. You will
find that I've only been a person of transition, moving into a future that even I
cannot conceive of, but a future into which I, with you, will move with confidence
and joy.
I know that transition has its wrenching dimensions, which is normal, natural
and healthy. I learned personally something of that a few weeks ago with John
and Brenda Fuchs. John was on the Operations Council and the Board of
Trustees. He's been a dear friend; I've come to love him dearly. They moved to
Florida. In the narthex before they left, I said, "John, I'm really going to miss
you," and he said, "Oh, we're coming back. We're coming back." And from that
moment I knew that he was putting me off. He wasn't allowing me to say, "I'm
sad. I'm going to miss you here every week." And I learned something. And so,
you can say, "I'm sad." You can say, "It's going to be different." You can say
anything you want to. It's okay. And I won't say to you what I have been saying
over and over again. "We're going to be here. We're not going anywhere."
No, we have not-arrived, and with all of the continuity that will accompany us,
there will be change and that is the way of life. This community will engage it
with a style of grace. Say it after me - The Style of Grace. Once more - The Style of
Grace.
Aah, may we never betray it; may we never deny it; may we always embody it.
Christmas Eve - wasn't it beautiful? It was so magical, mystical, meaningful, and I
decided that what we needed was just a moment of silence with the lights down
and only the candlelight as the Christ Candle was lighted. The silence was
eloquent. The silence caused us to be awash with the presence of God. It was so
magnificent.
Yesterday, Lynn said to me, "Dad, did you stay down so long because you couldn't
get up?" I said, "I was worried about getting up, but I stayed down so long
because I didn't want the moment to end." It was so beautiful, so magical, so
mystical, the presence of God was tangible, and it will continue to be as we find
ever new ways to express it and experience it and, in it all, move into that future
with the style of grace.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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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
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
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Event
Christmastide
Scripture Text
Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 2:25-35
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-20031228
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2003-12-28
Title
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The Grace to Embrace the Future
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
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Sound
Text
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 28, 2003 entitled "The Grace to Embrace the Future", on the occasion of Christmastide, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 2:25-35.
Change
Continuity
Grace
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Text
Restless Mind and Quiet Heart
Quest and Rest
Text: Job 23: 1-10; Psalm 42: 1-5; John 3: 1-10; I John 4: 7-8, 12, 16
Richard A. Rhem
Freedom Village
Holland, Michigan
September 28, 2014
Transcription of the written meditation
Once in a while in the ministry of preaching I have discovered not only some
fresh insight into the biblical faith as I worked on a passage, but some new insight
into myself. Now on the threshold of my 80th birthday, it happened again.
When I decided on my theme for today I was well aware that I would be probing
the question of my life – the God Question. I have lived a “God-obsessed” life and
that not surprisingly. On the day of my ordination to the ministry I received a
letter from my father relating the fact that, when my mother was carrying me, he
prayed that, should I be a boy (women’s ordination not yet in the picture), he
would dedicate me to God’s service. Well aware that we don’t choose, God must
call, one of my early memories as a child is his telling those who referenced me as
a young lad that his prayer was that God would call me to the ministry. As a child
I was a bit embarrassed but I got the message!
Interestingly, I never considered doing anything else and I never rebelled against
the pre-programmed vocational “choice.” However my ministry has been a
journey of probing the God Question and the years of my retirement have only
given me more time to continue the quest. I still read and wonder, question and
probe. And, as I do that, I never doubt being held in the embrace of God’s love as
I have come to experience it in the face of Jesus.
When I decided on my theme –
Restless Mind and Quiet Heart – Quest and Rest,
I was well aware that I was describing my own spiritual journey –
always wondering, questioning – always securely resting.
However, as I began to gather materials and ideas for this meditation, I came to a
realization that the God Question goes on and is alive and well to the present. I
saw afresh, or for the first time, my own spiritual journey – a restless mind
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Richard A. Rhem
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seeking to come to a critical, intellectual understanding of the story of religion
and, specifically, the Christian faith. But doing so with a quiet heart because of
the fundamental trust in which I was spiritually formed.
The insight into my own journey had to do with what was happening on the
broader cultural scene. I was ordained in 1960 as a very conservative Reformed
Christian minister. I’m sure you remember the 60s. Just for fun I googled the
term and was reminded of that decade, so tumultuous, as much that had been
taken for granted was put in question or simply overturned.
The 1960s was a decade that began on I January 1960 and ended on 31
December 1969. The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The
Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends
around the globe. This “cultural decade” is more loosely defined than the
actual decade, beginning around 1963 and ending around 1974.
“The Sixties”, as they are known in both scholarship and popular culture,
is a term used by historians, journalists, and other objective academics; in
some cases nostalgically to describe the counterculture and revolution in
social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, sexuality, formalities,
and schooling. Conservatives denounce the decade as one of irresponsible
excess, flamboyance, and decay of social order. The decade was also
labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the fall or relaxation of social
taboos especially relating to racism and sexism that occurred during this
time.
From Wikipedia
The world was changing around me. Time magazine for April 8, 1966, (the Easter
Issue!) had a black cover with the question “Is God Dead? in red letters. The God
is Dead theologians created quite a stir. The New Georgia Encyclopedia (August
6, 2013) reports:
A popular debate over whether “God is dead” was occasioned by the socalled radical theology propounded in the 1960s by such theologians as
William Hamilton, Gabriel Vahanian, and Paul van Buren. The best known
of these proponents was Thomas J. J. Altizer, then a professor of religion
at Emory University in Atlanta. The controversy reflected many of the
broader cultural and political changes in American society often associated
with that decade. “We must realize that the death of God is an historical
event, that God has died in our cosmos, in our history, in our [existence],”
Altizer claimed. His frequently provocative manner of speaking, which
masked a more complex discussion taking place among academic
theologians, for a brief time made him a minor celebrity in the popular
media.
Although the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had asserted the
“death of God” nearly a century earlier and a theological movement had
already adopted the phrase to express the perceived incompatibility
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Richard A. Rhem
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between a modern worldview and belief in a transcendent deity, the
controversy did not fully erupt until 1965. For a decade before this, Altizer
wrote, he “had been torn between an interior certainty of the death of God
in modern history…and a largely mute but nevertheless unshakable
conviction of the truth of the Christian faith.”
It was in such a time that this very conservative, very traditional, rather insecure
and somewhat defensive preacher began. I won’t bore you with the details but,
after four years in Spring Lake and three in Midland Park, New Jersey, I had
begun to realize that I needed help; I needed to go back to school! Again, without
boring you with the details, I went to The Netherlands, the University of Leiden,
being accepted as a graduate student by a great theologian and wonderful human
being, Professor Hendrikus Berkhof. As I rose to leave his study after our initial
meeting, I noticed a piece of paper pinned to a drape. On it in the blue ink of a
ditto copy were the words of Tennyson:
Our little systems have their day,
They have their day and cease to be.
They are but broken lights of Thee,
And Thou, O Lord, art more than they.
It was an epiphany moment. My little system was broken. I desperately needed a
new understanding of the Christian Faith if ever I was again to bring the Good
News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But God was more than my little system that
was broken.
Four years of intensive study, reading, writing, conversation with my Professor
followed. During those years I was not sure if I would preach again, but I was
learning and getting the education I never had, not because I didn’t have good
teachers but because I was not open to learn. Now with existential hunger I began
at least to understand the questions.
The Spring Lake congregation invited me to return and I did. And so I began
again, this time quite a different person, now preaching and teaching out of my
European experience, the restless mind now dealing with faith’s question but,
saturated with Grace, a heart at rest.
But it hasn’t gotten any easier. If the 60s were revolutionary in society as a whole
and the Death of God theologians challenged the very existence of God, there was
no possibility of returning to business as usual. The God Question was in play. As
I came to my retirement in 2004, a new generation of scholars created the new
atheism.
New Atheism is a social and political movement in favour of atheism and
secularism promoted by a collection of modern atheist writers who have
advocated the view that “religion should not simply be tolerated but
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Richard A. Rhem
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should be countered, criticized, and exposed by rational argument
wherever its influence arises.” There is uncertainty about how much
influence the movement has had on religious demographics, but the
increase in atheist groups, student societies, publications and public
appearances has coincided with the non-religious being the largest
growing demographic, followed by Islam and evangelicalism in the US and
UK.
The 2004 publication of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the
Future of Reason by Sam Harris, a bestseller in the US, marked the first of
a series of popular bestsellers. Harris was motivated by the events of
September 11, 2001, which he laid directly at the feet of Islam, while also
directly criticizing Christianity and Judaism. Two years later Harris
followed up with Letter to a Christian Nation, which was also a severe
criticism of Christianity. Also in 2006, following his television
documentary The Root of All Evil?, Richard Dawkins published The God
Delusion, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for 51 weeks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Atheism)
Recently I have been picking up some well-worn books on my shelves, which I
remember were breakthrough books, writings that made a deep impact on me in
my quest to understand the mysteries of God, cosmos and human being. The
British New Testament scholar John Knox, in his The Humanity and Divinity of
Christ, wrote a statement that spoke deeply to me – gave me, I suppose, some
self-understanding in my spiritual journey. Knox wrote:
For our hearts cannot finally find true what our minds find false. (p. 107)
I have on occasion rephrased his claim:
The heart cannot rest where the mind cannot follow.
In either case Knox’s claim is that heart and mind, though with different
functions, must be in harmony. Intellectual quest cannot issue in a heart at peace.
A peaceful heart cannot be secured without the mind’s understanding. And such
equilibrium is not static, for life is dynamic, on the way. Thus quest and rest – a
restless mind and a quiet heart.
Religion is the quest for God and the great religions of the world point to the
Mystery beyond human comprehension, beyond the change and decay that marks
our common experience, the shifting tides of human opinion and practices – the
Mystery that is sought as the truly Real, the final resting place of the restless
human quest, the source and ground of being and the goal toward which all
presses.
The human longing for God is well documented in our story, the biblical story.
The story of Job in the Hebrew Scriptures is a powerful and eloquent witness to
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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the struggle to find God in the midst of human suffering. Determined not to yield
to the popular theology and conventional wisdom of his day, Job refuses to accept
the idea that suffering is the punishment of God for sin and wrongdoing. In the
midst of his debate with those miserable comforters who visited him, he cries out,
“Oh, that I knew where I might find God; that I might come even to his
dwelling! …I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive
him. On the left he hides, and I cannot behold him.”
“Oh, that I knew where I might find God.” Indeed!
Or the Psalmist – again one whose soul is cast down, suggesting that it is most
often at life’s extremity that the God Question obtrudes itself – writes:
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My
soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the
face of God?
Job is a drama, not an historical account; the Psalmist is a poet writing a hymn.
This is the stuff of poetry and theater because we are dealing with the depths of
human experience, the longing for some clue or glimpse or token that our human
existence has meaning, some significance, that it is not simply sound and fury, a
tale told by an idiot.
But it need not always be triggered by suffering or threat. Sometimes life
experience itself simply raises the question – What is the meaning of it all?
Nicodemus was a religious teacher, a rabbi, and in his own spiritual quest and
questioning he came to Jesus to ask about the God Question, to which Jesus
responded with the familiar, “You must be born again,” or “from above,”
pointing, of course, to a spiritual illumination beyond the capacity of pure
intellectual, rational thinking. And Nicodemus reflected what we must all feel at
some time: “How can this be?”
My soul longs for God.
Oh, that I knew where I might find God.
How can this be? Born from above?
The God Question – the question that will not go away. What a fascinating quest
is this quest for God, and this is a great time in which to be engaged in the quest
and question. The God Question is alive and well. It will not go away ever for
long, but it is my sense that there is more open discussion about God, about the
spiritual life than has been true in my lifetime, and with the vast communication
networks of our world, the God question flourishes as never before.
© Grand Valley State University
�Restless Mind and Quiet Heart: Quest and Rest
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
In our human experience, as our minds remain open to new breakthroughs in the
understanding of our cosmic journey, we know finally, intellectually we will not
uncover the mystery that we call God. Are we then engaged as persons and as a
human family in an eternal quest that knows no rest?
No, for what we cannot discover intellectually we can experience as we love one
another. In John’s Gospel, in The Prologue, we read, “The Word was make flesh
and lived among us.” And the writer goes on to declare, “No one has ever seen
God.” He then points to the Word become flesh.
The writer of the First Letter of John repeats the statement of the Gospel writer –
“No one has ever seen God!” But then, in a marvelous expansion of the Gospel’s
focus on the Word made flesh as the place of revelation, the writer of the First
Letter of John declares,
No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us,
and His love is perfected in us.
Again he writes,
God is love, and those who abide in love
abide in God, and God abides in them.
The quest goes on. The cosmic journey continues to amaze us as the mysteries of
the universe are opened and the restless human mind will continue to lay bare
those mysteries. But in the meantime, a quiet heart rests in the Love of God
experienced in our human love. The dynamism of the quest keeps the mind open,
alert, full of wonder with never ending questions. Loving another, thus
experiencing God who is love, the heart finds rest.
From my favorite musical drama, Les Miserables, the moving closing song says it
all: “To love another person is to see the Face of God” – and experience a heart at
rest!
© 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
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<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
Freedom Village Service
Scripture Text
Job 23: 1-10, Psalm 42: 1-5, John 3: 1-10, I John 4: 7-8, 12, 16
Location
The location of the interview
Freedom Village Chapel, Holland, 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-0-20140928
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2014-09-28
Title
A name given to the resource
Restless Mind and Quiet Heart: Quest and Rest
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. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 28, 2014 entitled "Restless Mind and Quiet Heart: Quest and Rest", on the occasion of Freedom Village Service, at Freedom Village Chapel, Holland, MI. Scripture references: Job 23: 1-10, Psalm 42: 1-5, John 3: 1-10, I John 4: 7-8, 12, 16.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Change
Faith Journey
God is Love
Spiritual Quest