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Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together Again
Text: I Thessalonians 4: 14; 5: 9-10
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent II, December 7, 1986
Transcription of the spoken sermon
My soul doth magnify the, Lord.
Our Advent hope is that deep assurance in our heart that Jesus Christ will bring
us all together again. The biblical word is clear that our hope is sure, that we shall
be redeemed, not only in this our present life, but through death into life eternal.
We shall be together with the Lord. Not only together with the Lord, one to one,
but all together, all together with the Lord – all together in the brightness of His
eternal presence. That is the Christian hope; that is the Advent hope.
Paul brings together very intimately the relationship of the coming again of Jesus
and the realization of that final hope of the Christian Church. In this Letter to the
Thessalonians, which was perhaps the earliest letter that we have from Paul, we
have him dealing to a great extent with the coming again of Jesus. Paul must have
gone through that ancient world with such passion and intensity focused on the
event of Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, and his coming again, that he
put his hearers on tinder hooks, as it were. He got his congregation to sit on the
edge of their seats, to catch their breath, and to study the skies to wait for a rift in
the clouds and the appearance of Jesus Christ. We know that, after writing this
first letter, which must have reflected what he had preached to them, he had to
write them a second letter which said to them, "Now wait a minute. It's good to
get excited about these things, but a real part of life is also business as usual. So,
don't quit your jobs, don't file for your Social Security, don't collect your pensions
yet, don't take that world cruise on your life insurance. Keep working and waiting
and watching and be alert. Jesus is coming, but in the meantime, be responsible
and be active in your Christian life." He had to write to them to correct a sense of
expectancy that was causing them to let go in the immediate expectation of all of
this to happen.
Paul didn't know what was going to happen, and he didn't know when it was
going to happen - he simply believed that something would happen that would
involve the appearance of Jesus who had been here, crucified and risen, and
which would involve, as well, the summing up of all of history. We have to
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
restructure what Paul said because we don't believe in the physical universe like
Paul understood it. Heaven was up, earth was in the middle, hell was down - a
three-story universe. The ups and downs of Paul are not the beyonds of the
physical universe as we know it. We know that Paul shared with the early Church
that sense of the imminent return of Jesus Christ, but we certainly cannot, after
2,000 years, continue to hold our breath. And it really doesn't work for us to try
to whip up some kind of emotion, to psych ourselves up so we can recapture that
sense of the imminent coming of Jesus.
I was reflecting on that myself. The Advent season - I'm really thankful for the
return of the season. It becomes increasingly meaningful for me to celebrate this
season because I am confronted again these weeks with the cry, "Come, Lord
Jesus." And our prayer this morning said something to the effect that our hymn is
our prayer - "Come, thou long-expected Jesus." And yet, good friends, to be
honest, most of us live most of our days without really thinking very much about
that or anticipating that or praying for that, let alone longing for that. It was
different in the wake of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. It was
different in that first century when Paul had a sense of all of this now coming to
its fruition, believing that the resurrection of all the saints would follow
immediately on the resurrection of Jesus. He spoke of the resurrection of Jesus as
the first fruits, and the first fruits are the first grain ripened of the harvest, but
the whole harvest follows immediately. And surely it would have boggled Paul's
mind if he would have had any sense that some 2,000 years later we would be
taking his word and looking for the same event.
The whole structure of the universe, the whole understanding of the scheme of
the time calendar of the events of the redemption, all of that needs to be
renegotiated. We really need not to stumble over the fact that Paul expected Jesus
immediately, and it's been 2,000 years, or that he expected him to come from
above, even though we know there is no above or below - all of that is structuring
and symbolism. The only kinds of tools and equipment that were available to
speak about these mysteries need to be retranslated and reinterpreted in our own
experience, and I don't really know how to do that.
It's not terribly important, if we continue to focus on the message and the essence
of the matter. Paul was saying to Christians at Thessalonica, "Jesus, who has
come, is coming again, and when he comes again, those whom you have loved
and lost a while, will be with him, and you will be joined with them and together
with him you will live in the brightness of his presence forever." That's the Advent
hope. That is that toward which Christian hope is focused.
The reason that Paul gave us the immediate paragraph of our scripture lesson is
that, when a loved one died before Jesus returned, there was a fear in the hearts
of family and friend that those who were dying were going to miss out. It was as
though you have to keep alive and breathing until he comes, or you'll miss the
grand event. Paul writes this in order to put those fears to rest.
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are
asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
(I Thessalonians 4:13)
The word for death there, sleep, was common usage. It was simply a euphemism.
It is interesting that Paul does use another word for Jesus' death when he says,
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
(I Thessalonians 4:14)
as though what Jesus endured, which was real death, enduring all of the
consequence of all of the darkness of all of the ages, and that sense of
forsakenness which he went through - Jesus died so that we would not die, but
rather, fall asleep. And his point is simply this. I write in order that you won't be
ignorant of these things. Those who fall asleep before he comes will not be at any
disadvantage over against those who are alive and present when he appears. Paul
was simply saying that whether we are alive or whether we have died, there will
come a point sometime in the future when we will all be gathered into the
presence of the Lord. In the 10th verse of that fifth chapter, toward the end of the
passage we read,
He died for us so that we, awake or asleep, living or dead, might live in
company with him.
The Advent hope is that Jesus will bring us all together again. And so, in this
Advent Season, the second Sunday in Advent, let me set before you this biblical
truth, which I believe is the great source of our comfort, and let me say to you
that there is a communion of the saints with Jesus Christ which is not touched by
death. There is a communion of the saints with Jesus Christ that is not touched
by death.
Philosophers have studied the human situation, and some very profound and
reflective spirits have said that the whole question of death is in the depths of our
psyche, the ultimate question that we face. We all know that we will all die, and
we will all, at some time or other, experience the loss, the death, of one dear to us,
so death is a subject that is very urgent in the human experience. The Christian
Gospel has something to say about death. What it says about death is that it is not
very significant. I repeat, what it says about death is that death is not very
significant.
I've not faced death, and I run a certain risk in making a statement like that. I
remember when I was a student, I did a little meditation at a hymn sing after
church on Sunday night. Those were the days in which I had all the answers, and
didn't understand the questions. What they should have done for the good of the
church was lock me up for five or six years and let me steep a bit. But I made this
grand proclamation about death holding no fear for us, and I remember a very
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together
Richard A. Rhem
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saintly Christian lady coming up to me at the seminary that next week and saying
to me, "My father was a godly man and he died a horrible death." That's all she
said. That's all she needed to say, because I may have been dumb, but I'm not
stupid. She said to me, "Be more sensitive when you talk about death." And so,
when I say to you that what the scriptures say about death is that it is not very
important, I say that knowing that I haven't faced death, knowing that some of
you have, and also knowing that I have buried a father and a mother who were
very dear, but both in their eighties after a full and rich life. With those
qualifications, let me say again that what the Christian Gospel says about death is
that it is not very important. Paul does admit that it is still the last enemy, but as I
have been reflecting on that in this Advent season once again, I am struck by the
Christian affirmation about the relativization of death.
There is a communion with Jesus Christ now and then, which is not affected by
our death, except that our death becomes the doorway through which we move
into a grander dimension of that communion. And we need to say that in our day
which has been blessed by medical science and by technological breakthroughs
that have enabled us to enhance life and, in many cases, prolong life. We need to
say that also in a day when keeping a body alive has become a task of heroic
dimensions. Death is not that important! And the prolongation of physical life in
this world is not that important. There is one thing that is preeminently
important, and that is that now I am in communion with God through Jesus
Christ, which binds me together with all brothers and sisters who are in Christ,
and which communion will not be touched but only enhanced as I move through
the portal of death. I want to say that with conviction and with some compassion,
even with some sensitivity.
The will to live is a God-given, wholesome, natural will and force. And the desire
to enhance human life and to prolong human life, I believe, is a proper response
to all that we know about the nature of life as it comes from the hand of God. But
I also believe that, in a world that has become an increasingly this-worldly, onelevel universe, materialistic in its goals and in its strivings, and so largely
disconnected from the spiritual reality which is the depth of our being - then I
need to say, also, that death is not very important! And that it is possible, by
laying hold of the comfort of the Gospel and the Advent hope of our Lord Jesus
Christ, to contemplate it with some equanimity and to face it with serenity.
If I stand at your bedside and you are terminally ill and you're afraid, I hope
you'll be able to share that with me, and that what I am saying this morning will
not add to fear or guilt because you may not be able to die easily, but nonetheless,
I have to say what I am saying this morning because it is the Christian Gospel and
it is true. When we lose someone we love, the loss is ours. When we are separated
from one who is dear, the pain is ours. And when we weep, we are in good
company because Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus, when he saw the pain that
death brings into the human scene. But finally if we hear the Gospel, death is not
that important. It is not that big a deal. Paul says that Jesus Christ died for us so
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
that whether we sleep or wake, we may be in company with him. That means,
whether I am dead or alive, I am in communion with him; that means whether I
am dead or alive, I am alive forever more. That means that the depths of my
being is fully alive and fully in tune and in touch with the Creator and Redeemer
of my being, whether I am dead or alive in this present, physical, historical sense.
The communion of the saints in the ancient creed spoke about that fellowship
that transcends death and all ages and all places, and makes us one with all the
people of God who have ever lived, all together, in the presence of God.
I have been reading a good deal about the experiences of those who have had
these near-death experiences and even, frankly, some psychical material. It is
most fascinating, and I am convinced that I to this point in my life have been very
shortsighted, and have tapped only superficially the depth of the comfort of the
Gospel that promises to us a communion and a fellowship in the body and out of
the body. There is more to us than these corpuscles and molecules that make up
our physical existence. And Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, will bring us
together with him when all things come to their consummation, however that
happens, whenever that happens. There will be a summing up of all things, and
when it happens, maybe some will be alive, and most will have died, but it won't
make any difference, for that communion is untouched, real life is not touched by
the portals of death, which is as normal on that end as birth is on this end. This
old proving ground that we're engaged in now, this earthly pilgrimage, this veil of
tears, this life that some of the cynics have characterized as being "no exit," as a
bad joke - all of this life which we believe is that time in which our own being is
being refined and prepared for the eternal fellowship - this life will be swallowed
up in life that is Life, indeed. That's the Advent hope. And those we've loved and
lost awhile are close to us, and more available to us than I've ever dared to
believe.
I've been thinking of my own father and mother recently and I read of a great
Christian Scotsman, Ian McClaren, whose mother said to him, as she was dying,
"There'll not be a day that I won't think of you, nor an hour in which I won't pray
for you, and where I'm going, I'll know better what to pray for than ever before."
The communion of the saints. Why do we give up? Why do we bury someone and
consider that it's all over and it's done? Why do we look for our own death
sometimes with fear and trembling, when – if we really, really believed the
Gospel and believed the eternal God and the promises that in communion with
Him through Jesus Christ we have life in another dimension, which can only be
clarified and made more grand with that movement through the limitations of
time and space and bodily existence – moving through death to life, that is Life
indeed.
Our Advent hope is that Jesus will bring us all together again. Our Advent hope is
that nothing that is true or beautiful or good will fall away, that all of that will be
gathered together and refined into the perfect kingdom of God, which is the
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
complete rule of God in the totality of things. And one day we'll all be together in
the presence of the Lord. At the risk again of sounding superficial or naive, let me
say it to you again. Death is no big deal. For Jesus is our life, whether we sleep or
whether we're awake, now and forever. That is our Advent hope. Thank God he
has come! Thank God he will come! Thank God he is with us now!
Let us pray. O God, these are the things that we most deeply believe. Enable us to
lay hold of the Advent hope, and to live with the comfort of the Gospel, the
comfort of His coming, and give us the sense, O God, of a communion and a
fellowship that transcends every barrier, even death itself, making us one with all
who are yours in the fellowship of Your Kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, our
Lord, Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Advent II
Scripture Text
I Thessalonians 4:14, 5:9, 10
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19861207
Date
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1986-12-07
Title
A name given to the resource
Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together Again
Creator
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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
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 7, 1986 entitled "Advent Hope: Jesus Will Bring Us All Together Again", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Thessalonians 4:14, 5:9, 10.
Advent
Communion of the Saints
Eschatology
Hope
Presence of God