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An Accident of the Incarnation
Article by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
Perspectives
A Journal of Reformed Thought
February 1987, pp. 4-6
The maleness of the human person in whom God was incarnate was an
accident of the incarnation. That is the thesis of this essay, which contends
that in another epoch of human history, in another cultural context, the
incarnation of the Word might have found expression in feminine form.
Accident is used here in its technical meaning in philosophical discourse,
in logic, as “something contingent, not necessary, non-essential, or that
might not have been,” not in its more popular meaning of “anything that
happens, an event, especially an unforeseen contingency, a disaster something to do with chance or fortune. Accident as used here means
specifically “a non-essential accompaniment.”
Thus the contention is not that the maleness of the incarnation of the
Word in its concrete historical manifestation in Jesus of Nazareth was a
matter contingent, a chance occurrence apart from the predetermined will
of God; on the contrary, given the time in which God took time for us,
maleness was the historical garb chosen to accomplish the purpose of
revelation. However, the gender of the incarnation was determined by the
historical context of its manifestation; it was not determined by its
purpose, namely, the revelation of God in human form.
The same contention can be made from the opposite side using another
technical philosophical term: the essence of the incarnation was the
revelation of God in human form. The essential matter which came to
expression was the humanity of the Word. To accomplish the essence of
God’s purpose, to be revealed in human form, it was necessary to select a
gender, male or female. But the selection of gender was determined by the
time of the incarnation, not the essential purpose of the incarnation.
The essence of the incarnation was God in human form;
the accident of the incarnation was God in a human form of male
gender.
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Given the patriarchial society of the world into which Jesus came, the
purpose of the incarnation was best accomplished by the utilization of a
human person of male gender. But the essential element of Jesus in whose
face we have been shown “the light of revelation - the revelation of the
glory of God ...” was his humanity, not his male gender.
In The Preparation of the World for Christ, a history of the world into
which Jesus was born, David R. Breed describes the historical
circumstances which prevailed at the time of Jesus’ birth and points to the
providential preparation of the large tapestry of history which made the
time of incarnation “the fullness of time” - a time in which the revelation of
God in human form took root and flourished and gained the ascendency
over the great power of imperial Rome. It was one world united under the
pax Romana, pervaded by Hellenistic culture, drawn together by the
Greek language; a world empty of soul, hungering for a true word. Breed
makes an interesting case for the preparation of the moment chosen for
the supreme revelation of God in our time and space. It was indeed a
Kairos time, a most opportune moment for God manifest in the flesh.
However, recognizing a providential purpose operative in the course of
human history preparing the world for the incarnation of the Word must
not be extended to include the patriarchial character of Jewish society at
that moment as essential to God’s purpose to reveal himself in human
form. If that were the case, then the argument being made here would fall;
then, indeed, not simply revelation in our humanity, but revelation in
humanity of male gender would be essential and the superiority of male
gender as reflective of God would be established. It is that that I am
denying by asserting that the maleness of the incarnation of the Word was
an accident, not an essential mark of the incarnation. Otherwise, we would
be saying something about God which would distort the biblical image.
Were male gender the essence of the incarnation, maleness would
necessarily be ascribed to God. But such ascription would run contrary to
the biblical understanding of God in spite of the fact that God is referred to
as Father. Such reference is found in the Old Testament as well as in Jesus’
usage. It is also found in other religions of the ancient world. But the use of
Father in reference of God is not a statement about gender.
In the later of the two Creation accounts (Genesis 1:1-2:4), we read,
So God created man in his own image;
in the image of God he created him;
male, and female, he created them. (11:27)
Without getting into the complexities of the biblical idea of the image of
God, it is obvious that in whatever that image consists, it embraces both
maleness and femaleness. Maleness and femaleness reflect something of
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
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God who must incorporate both within the Divine Being. Thus, God
transcends our human sexual differentiation.
It is interesting to note that even our human sexual differentiation is not
an absolute differentiation; maleness and femaleness are the opposite
poles of the human sexual spectrum. The individual finds a place not at
one pole or the other, but somewhere on the continuum that connects the
poles. In this, the human person would appear to be a reflection of the
image of God who incorporates both male and female qualities and
transcends sexual differentiation.
Why, then, is God called Father in the Bible? As indicated above, the
concreteness of the incarnation demanded a particular time, place, people,
gender and person; the “scandal of particularity” comes to expression in
our claim that the infinite and eternal God is revealed in the face of Jesus
of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem during the reign of Caesar Augustus. An
aspect of that concreteness was the patriarchal society and thus the use of
Father. The “Father” image is so deeply ingrained that one wonders if it
could ever be replaced by another image. It has been called in question,
however.
Hans Küng has raised the question about the appropriateness of the name
Father. He asserts that such usage is problematic in the age of women’s
emancipation. He asks,
Should we without more ado apply to God a name implying sexual
differentiation? Is God a man, masculine, virile? Are we not making
God in the image of man, to be more exact of a male human being?
(On Being a Christian, p. 310)
He points out that the designation of God as Father is not determined
solely by Yahweh’s uniqueness, but
appears to be also sociologically conditioned, bearing the imprint of
the male-oriented society. (Ibid.)
But in the Old Testament, God is not “forthrightly male,” but has also
feminine, maternal features. Today, however, we must be clear about this.
He contends,
The designation “Father” will be misunderstood unless it is
regarded, not in contrast to “Mother,” but symbolically
(analogously): “Father” as patriarchal symbol - also with
matriarchal features - of a transhuman, transsexual ultimate reality.
Today less than ever may the one God be seen merely within a
masculine-paternal framework, as an all-too-masculine theology
used to present him. The feminine-maternal element in him must
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
also be recognized. To address God as Father can then no longer be
used as the religious justification of a social paternalism at the
expense of woman or in particular for the permanent suppression
of the feminine element in the Church (or ministry). (Ibid.)
The God revealed in the human form of Jesus is a God of redeeming love,
not a God who is in fact
the projection of instilled fears, of human domination, lust for
power, arrogance and vindictiveness. This Father-God is not a
theocratic God who might serve as an excuse - if only indirectly - for
the representatives of totalitarian systems, whether piousecclesiastical, or impious-atheistic, who attempt to take his place
and exercise his sovereign rights. These men become holy or unholy
gods of orthodox teaching and absolute discipline, of law and order,
of dictatorship and planning, regardless of the claims of other
human beings. (p. 312)
Is there an image for God that might better reflect the divine-human
relationship, avoiding the possible misunderstanding and exploitation of
the father image? Alternating the pronouns referring to God, she and he, is
being done by some; also the use of “father-mother” finds occasional
expression. Our biblical understanding of God certainly justifies such
usage even though it may not find easy acceptance. “Parent” is a
possibility, although not carrying the emotional weight of father or
mother.
Anne E. Carr of the Divinity School in Chicago suggests that some would
move away from the parental images
... which can inculcate a relation of childish rather than adult
religious dependence. That is to say, while parental images express
compassion, acceptance, guidance, and discipline, they do not
express the mutuality, maturity, cooperation, responsibility, and
reciprocity demanded by personal and political experience today.
Carr refers to Sallie McFague who shows how the father image
has expanded into patriarchalism as a “metaphysical worldview,” a
“mindset” that becomes a “whole way of ordering reality.”
McFague argues that this dominant father image must be countered with
many images; no one image will suffice. She points out that we image God
according to that which is most important to us humanly and suggests
“friend” as perhaps the most appropriate image. Carr affirms this image,
claiming that
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
The metaphor of God as friend corresponds to the feminist ideal of
“communal personhood,” a relationship among persons, groups,
and lifestyles that is non-competitive, mutually enhancing, and
desperately needed in our world.
Jurgen Moltmann supports the appropriateness of the friend image. He
writes,
The friend of God does not live any longer “under God” but with
and in God.
One finds this demonstrated in the life and death of Jesus who reveals a
God who suffers for us and invites us into a fellowship of suffering for
others.
I have argued that the maleness of the Word of God was the accident of the
incarnation, its essence being the revelation of God in human form. This is
confirmed by Karl Barth who prefaces paragraph 15 of Church Dogmatics
I, 2, “The Mystery of Revelation” this way:
The mystery of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ consists in the
fact that the eternal Word of God chose, sanctified and assumed
human nature and existence into oneness with Himself ... (p. 122)
In section 3, the splendid discussion of the virgin birth entitled “The
Miracle of Christmas,” Barth speaks of the human involvement in the birth
of the Word being
... only in the form of non-willing, non-achieving, non-creative,
non-sovereign man, only in the form of man who can merely
receive, merely be ready, merely let something be done to and with
himself. (p. 191)
He is in no way denying that the woman has her share in the
determination of man.
Only a foolish ideology of manhood or an equally foolish ideology of
womanhood can deny her her share in this determination of man.
(p. 193)
But Barth argues there can be no talk of an equality of the two sexes in this
respect.
God alone knows whether the history of humanity, nations and
states, art, science, economics, has in fact been and is so
predominantly the history of males, the story of all the deeds and
works of males, as it appears to be, or whether, for all that, the
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
hidden factor of female co-operation and participation has not, in
fact, always turned the scale in a way of which chronicles, acts and
monuments give us no information, because it involves an element
which is deeply concealed both psychologically and sociologically,
although it was not and did not need to be less potent for that
reason. Be that as it may, if there had been a matriarchate instead
of a patriarchate ... nevertheless it is - well, “significant,” that the
historical consciousness of all nations, states and civilizations
begins with the patriarchate. Male action is significant for the world
history and characteristic of the world history with which we are
acquainted, as it has been and actually is for us, even if it is not so in
itself. (p. 193)
Therefore, Barth contends it is precisely the male participation that had to
be set aside. What takes place in the mystery of Christmas is not world
history and it is not the work of human genius.
His eternal generation of this eternal Son excludes a human
generation, because a human father and human generation, the
whole action of man the male, can have no meaning here. Therefore
it is the very absence of masculine action that is significant here. (p.
194)
Of interest in this discussion is not Barth’s argument for the virgin birth as
a sign of the one who was fully in our history but did not arise from our
history; rather, it is his contention that the virgin birth signified the setting
aside of precisely the male domination of which history is full. The sign is a
judgment on the willing, achieving, creative, sovereign action of the male.
If one grants Barth’s contention that the sign of the virgin is a judgment on
male domination, then it would confirm the argument pursued above that
maleness was not essential to but accidental to the incarnation of the
Word. To read back into the God of revelation sexual differentiation,
specifically maleness, is to distort the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.
And on the basis of such a distortion, to justify male domination of the
Church and its ministry is totally without warrant.
Carr cites the ethicist Daniel Maguire, who argues,
Sexism is the elementary human sin. If the essential human
molecule is dyadic, male/female, the perversion of one part of the
dyad perverts the other. And, to distort femininity and masculinity,
the constitutive ingredients of humanity, is to distort humanity
itself.
Maguire welcomes feminine participation in theological discussion which
will bring a new wholeness to the public conversation in the Church. The
© Grand Valley State University
�An Accident of the Incarnation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
incorporation of affect, mysticism and concrete experience into theological
and ethical discussion and the denial of the almighty, macho-masculine
God whose exclusionary symbolism is utterly arbitrary will move us
toward wholeness without distortion.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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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.
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An Accident of the Incarnation
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Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought
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Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 2, 1987 entitled "An Accident of the Incarnation", it appeared in Perspectives, February 1987, pp. 4-6. Tags: Incarnation, Creation.
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God and Cosmos
From the sermon series on the Cosmos
Text: Hebrews 11:3
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 8, 1981
Transcription of the spoken sermon
By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God…
Hebrews 11: 3
If you had come past my home last evening about 10 o'clock, you might have
thought that I was really desperate, for you would have seen me with my cap and
coat, out on the deck with my telescope, gazing at the moon and surveying the
stars. And you might have figured that, after a week's vacation, having played all
week, at the eleventh hour I was desperately looking for a message in the stars to
bring you. Such would not have been the case, of course, for the message was well
under way by then. But having reflected all week long on the fantastic cosmos of
which we are a part, having already savored the wonder of yesterday - the clear
air, the blue sky, the radiant sun; walking along the beach with its lapping water,
cold and clear as crystal; having seen the magnificent sun slip into the sea in the
West, and then the stars glimmering in the night heavens providing a fit setting
for the silvery brilliance of the moon, I thought to myself, why not get out of the
study and savor it even more? And so, I did. With my telescope, I gazed at the
moon and I located a star or two and thought to myself that it is true O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!... When I
look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars
which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Psalm 8: 1, 3, 4 (RSV)
The depth of eternity symbolized in the immensity of space in this vast cosmos of
which we are a part, is but a finger pointing beyond itself to Him Who, in the
beginning, created the heavens and the earth.
I am sure we all identify with the awe, the sense of majesty which is reflected in
this psalm of wonder and praise. I am sure we have all had the experience on a
starry night when the atmosphere was clear as it was last night and the sky
cloudless. We have looked up and we have wondered at it, and then we have
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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found peace and comfort in the conviction that this is our Father's world. The
glories of the cosmos are a reflection of the glory of God. For, as the writer to the
Hebrews says in the words of our text taken from the 11th chapter,
By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God.
By faith. It is certainly by faith. It is our conviction that He Who revealed Himself
supremely in the face of Jesus and Whom, through Jesus, we have found to be
gracious, is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And, believing that, we have
found a home. We know this is our Father's world.
This is the first of a series of messages about God and Cosmos. God and Cosmos,
in that order, because I do believe that God is prior to Cosmos, and Cosmos is the
consequence of the deliberate intention of God to call into being that which was
not. All that is, is because God said, "Let there be." I deal with this right now
because I am currently viewing the television series, the 13-part Cosmos series,
which is written and narrated by Carl Sagan, who must be one of the world's
finest astronomers, and who is, besides being an excellent scientist, an
outstanding communicator. I hope that you have seen some of that series and, if
not, I hope that you will, for it is an amazing production. The photography is
thrilling, the technical aspects of it are superbly handled, and the communication
skills of Carl Sagan are something to behold. As I view that series, it causes me to
look beyond the cosmos to the creator of it all, to experience again what the
psalmist experienced, and to say within my heart, "O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is Thy name in all the earth."
Carl Sagan would not agree with the psalmist or with you and me that the cosmos
is the consequence of the deliberate, creative act of God. Carl Sagan is an
excellent scientist and an excellent communicator and I acclaim the job that he
has done. I want to go on record as saying that I think it is tremendous that the
depths and the deep secrets of the physical universe are being more and more
unraveled in this wonderful way through this marvelous medium, by this great
communicator. For he is skilled, not only in his understanding of the universe,
but in his ability to make the profound simple. And when he is an astronomer, a
scientist, and when he is setting forth all of that data which is available through
the explosion of knowledge and through the use of instrumentation which is so
sophisticated that it boggles the mind, then I listen intently and I learn.
This past week I spent the week trying to master the book which is the narration
of the video series. It is entitled, Cosmos. It's a very big and beautiful book, and a
very expensive book. I recommend it. When Carl Sagan is a scientist and an
astronomer, I learn a great deal. When he ceases to be an astronomer and a
scientist and becomes a philosopher and a theologian, then he has moved into my
territory and I carry on a dialogue with him. As long as he is talking about
protons and neutrons and quasars and pulsars and galaxies and all of that, then I
am an innocent bystander listening in and learning and eagerly so. When he
becomes a philosopher and a theologian, then I say, "Carl, let's talk about that."
© Grand Valley State University
�God and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Now, a scientist has every right to be a theologian and a philosopher, and I
suppose most all of them really are, because all of us finally are. The difficulty
comes when the two are so closely intertwined that one hardly knows whether
this is the result of the data gathered through some radioscope, testing the outer
limits of space, or whether it is the configuration conjured in the mind and heart
of the scientist. When he becomes a philosopher and theologian, then I take
exception to him, because then he would not agree with our Judeo-Christian
tradition, our conviction that all that is, is as a consequence of the Word of God.
He would commit Genesis and the Letter to the Hebrews and the great Psalms to
that great body of myth and fable which is a part of the common human
experience. Every people who have ever lived have had some kind of an
explanation, some kind of a myth which explains why there is anything. And Carl
Sagan would lump our Biblical tradition with all of those religious and semireligious explanations for the fact that there is something rather than nothing. It
is at that point that I would differ with him and call him to account.
He is a materialist. Now, a materialist is one who believes that, finally, everything
can be reduced to matter or energy. Now, you all understand Einstein's Theory of
Relativity, which says that those two are interchangeable, that mass and energy
are interchangeable, that finally, ultimately, the building blocks of reality are very
simply molecules that can be reduced to energy. So a materialist believes that,
finally, you can reduce the whole of reality to energy, electricity if you will, to
chemical reactions, so that the emotions that we feel are the result of chemical
reactions and nerve connections, and so forth. A materialist believes that the
whole of reality and the totality of human experience can be reduced to that
which is material, physical.
Now, in saying that, he has to deal with the fact that you and I are intelligent and
we are conscious. We are self-conscious people. We can reflect back upon
ourselves, we know that we exist, we think about ourselves, for better or worse.
And we have an intelligence. We can communicate. He would say that there may
be intelligent beings in other universes. If there are, we don't know about it. They
haven't signaled us yet, nor have they returned our signal. But, be that as it may,
as far as we are concerned, and after all we can only deal here with planet Earth,
the highest form of the cosmic evolutionary process has resulted in human
intelligence and human consciousness . We are the only beings that know that we
are. We are the only beings with the intelligence and the self-consciousness to
reflect on the cosmic process of which we are a part. And, consequently, if
everything can be reduced down to that point of energy or matter, then human
intelligence and human consciousness and human emotion, likewise, can be
reduced down and be explained in terms of electricity, chemical reaction, etc.
And that would mean, of course, that we are at the top of the ladder. This is as far
as the process has gotten. And that would mean, of course, that there is no higher
rung as yet realized. Who knows what may be up there? One might say that
humans have become godlike. Human existence with its intelligence and
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�God and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
consciousness is the highest rung of the ladder at this point and, consequently,
with nothing beyond, there can be no one beyond.
A materialist explains the totality of the cosmos in terms of the building blocks of
reality that are reducible in the laboratory. Human intelligence and
consciousness may be praised and affirmed and acclaimed. It is the highest
development of the cosmic process. There is no one beyond. Such is the view of
the materialist. Such a one is a naturalist. He would be a humanist, too, I
suppose.
But you and I believe more than that. As long as Carl Sagan is an astronomer and
a scientist, we learn; we learn with fascination and with eagerness. We marvel at
the ingenuity of the human mind, at the intellectual powers of an Einstein, the
exploratory endeavors of Galileo and Copernicus, Kepler and the whole host of
those who have probed the depths of reality and given us today such an amazing
insight into the cosmic order. It is exciting and fascinating and we ought to affirm
that in the Church.
When Carl Sagan has said everything he has to say, he has not yet dealt with the
religious question. Being a materialist, he has planted his feet squarely within
this cosmos, whereas you and I see the totality of the cosmos as the consequence
of the creative act of One Who transcends the cosmos, Who is not encased within
the system of which we are a part, with our galaxies and our planets and our
stars. We look to One Who is beyond, One Who stands apart from and Who
spoke and called into being that which did not previously exist. By faith, we
believe the worlds were fashioned by the Word of God. That God was, and
nothing else was, and God spoke, and it came to be. That is the affirmation of the
Letter to the Hebrews, the reflection of that first chapter where he sees the
cosmos to the extent that he was able to understand it and he says,
…they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a
garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed.
But thou art the same, and thy years will never end. Hebrews 1: 11-12
Or the psalmist who said, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the
earth." When I consider the heavens, the moon, the stars which you have made,
my worship is not offered, as it has been through so many ages of humankind, to
the stars and the moon or the sun or the cosmic order itself, but to the God Who
is apart from it and brought it into being. That is the Biblical tradition. That is the
Judeo-Christian faith. It is our faith.
And so we study the cosmos. As we view such a marvelous presentation as the
television Cosmos series, we are fascinated and we marvel at the wonders, the
complexity and the simplicity of the created order. But we always look beyond,
and then we know this amazing place is our Father's world.
© Grand Valley State University
�God and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
We have learned a lot through the research of astrophysics. They tell us that 15 to
20 billion years ago this universe was formed. Science, itself, has formulated what
is today the most accepted model of origin - the ''Big Bang." There was a high
concentration of energy and mass, almost a pinpoint. And from that intense
concentration of energy evolved a nuclear explosion that scattered the elements
in every direction, from which explosion we can still, through very delicate
radioscopes, hear the pulsing of radiation. From that Big Bang 15 to 20 billion
years ago, this whole cosmic order of which we are a part emanated. They tell us
that it is still expanding like a balloon. If you blow up a balloon that has polka
dots on it, the polka dots keep getting farther apart, but they remain relatively in
the same position on that sphere. And so, this universe is going outward. They
tell us if there is enough mass within this expanding universe, the force of gravity
will eventually stop the expansion, that it will, in turn, contract so that after the
Big Bang will come the Big Crunch. And then, they tell us, possibly with that Big
Crunch and that high concentration again, there will be another nuclear
explosion that will start the whole process over again.
Does it make any difference to Genesis? Does it make any difference to Hebrews
or to Psalm 8? Not a smidgin, really. For, who knows what God is up to? Who
knows what fantastic things He has in store for this, our planet Earth, which is
just a little speck of dust occupying an instant of time in this dramatic, cosmic,
evolutionary process. But on this little speck of dust, in this instant of time, we
exist, conscious and intelligent, able to reflect on the process and to adore the
God Who is behind it all.
What we have learned about space is so amazing. For example, they talk about
black holes. I wish I understood black holes. In the next life I'm going to conduct
great music. The third life I want to be an astrophysicist. I have never had a
physics course in my life, and I am really out of my element. But, anyway, try to
understand the black holes. Have you ever pulled the plug in a basin of water?
You pull the plug in the sink and the water goes down the drain. If you had good
drainage, the water was pulled down forming a whirlpool over the drain. Well,
they say that where there is a high concentration of energy from the collapse of a
great big star, maybe four or five times bigger than our sun, there is such a
concentration of gravity that it rushes right out of the universe. Like if you had
your hand inside the balloon and pushed it out. That gravity is so great, so
intense, that it doesn't even let the light out, so that you look in the sky and there
is a black hole. (You can't see the black hole where the star was, but you know
that the star was there because there is such a strong emanation of x-rays from
that point that they can tell by the radioscopes that it is there.) It is a tremendous
source of power. Well, even Carl Sagan says that those black holes might be the
shoots that would send us from one universe to another.
I was thinking about the book Life After Life, and all the stories of those who have
edged right up to death and then come back. They talk about that tunnel of light.
Who knows but maybe it's a black hole? It's a black hole from the outside, but
© Grand Valley State University
�God and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
inside, the light is there, you see. Does it make any difference to Genesis, or
Psalm 8, or the Letter to the Hebrews? Not a bit. The more we learn, the more we
probe, the more we understand, the more wonder, the more sense of awe,
because of the majesty, the mind-boggling nature of the cosmic order.
Our earth, 4.6 billion years old, part of a cosmic evolutionary process 15 to 20
billion years old. They say if you took a few baseballs and scattered them on the
North American continent they would be crowded compared to the stars in space.
And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has four billion stars, and our galaxy is in what
they call the Local Cluster, a relatively small cluster. There are numberless
galaxies. Sagan writes,
We live on a mote of dust circling a humdrum star in the remotest corner
of an obscure galaxy. And if we are a speck in the immensity of space, we
also occupy an instant in the expanse of ages. Cosmos, p. 20f.
Can you begin to take it in? I cannot. But whoever said God wasn't big? And
whoever said God lacked power? By faith, we understand that the worlds were
fashioned by the Word of God, and the more we learn, the more we stand in awe
of One Who stands apart from and creates the heavens and the earth and this
place for you and for me.
When the Bible affirms that God created, it doesn't mean to tell us all of the
scientific details about where everything came from, or the process by which it
arose. The Church too long has used the Bible that way, as a scientific text. And
because of that kind of use of the Bible there has been the unnecessary and tragic
conflict between science and religion. The Bible simply is trying to say that God is
at the beginning and God is at the end, and whatever exists, this cosmic
evolutionary process contains nothing that can be threatening to you and to me,
because God is at the beginning and God is at the end. And when the Bible says
Creation is good, it simply is saying that it is a good place for us to develop and to
grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And when it says that God
called into being that which exists from nothing, it is simply affirming that there
is nothing in the cosmic order that can be threatening, because God is sovereign
and Lord over all. That is really all we are saying, but that is to say tremendous
things about our human existence, and the cosmic order of which we are a part.
I am excited about this, because I believe too long in the Church there has been
an atmosphere of fear and an attitude of defensiveness. I grew up being
threatened by science. I grew up fearing every new discovery. I grew up wishing
there would be no more explosion of knowledge, fearing that somehow or other,
the faith and the things that were most dear to me would be exploded by some
new view under a microscope or some distant vista from a telescope.
The Church's history is tragic: Catholic and Protestant. Johann Kepler was
excommunicated by the Lutheran Church in the 17th Century, and Galileo was
put under house arrest the last years of his life by the Roman Church for simply
© Grand Valley State University
�God and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
affirming what he knew was true, that the earth went around the sun rather than
vice versa. The Church's record is tragic, to be repented of, and the Church too
often continues to react negatively to the increase of knowledge. It stifles creative
thought and experimentation and offends its best spirits and drives out its finest
minds.
I am excited about this, because I believe that we can allow the fresh air,
knowledge and research and investigation to flow through the Church, and then,
if we have faith enough, we can stand with the psalmist and say, "Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. When I consider the heavens, the
moon and the stars which You have made, then from my heart arises wonder,
love and praise." By faith we believe that the worlds were fashioned by the word
of God, and whatever is out there of which we are a part, whatever its future, and
whatever its past, it is encompassed in the eternal love of God, Who has
manifested Himself as Grace and touched us in the flesh of Jesus. Blessed be His
holy name. Amen.
Father, we revel in the wonder of the Created Order, the mind-boggling
experience of the natural world, and we rejoice in the confidence that we have
that we have a home here, that this is our Father's world, and that you uphold all
things by the power of your word. Receive our adoring worship, through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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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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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Scripture Text
Hebrews 1:1-4, 10-12
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19811108
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1981-11-08
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God and Cosmos
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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
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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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Text
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 8, 1981 entitled "God and Cosmos", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hebrews 1:1-4, 10-12.
Format
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application/pdf
Awe
Consciousness
Cosmos
Creation
Creator
Eternal Love of God
Faith
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/111cbbd03f6e672f2450ed8a7218b907.pdf
04d57b91e753dad90f266078b8f16378
PDF Text
Text
God Beyond All Human Conceiving
From the sermon series on the Book of Job
Job 38:1,4; Job 40:3-4, 6-14; Job 42:8, translated by Stephen Mitchell
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost XI, August 7, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"Then
the
Lord
answered
Job
out
of
the
whirlwind:...
Where
were
you
when
I
laid
the
foundation
of
the
earth? Job
38:1,4
"Then
Job
answered
the
Lord:
See,
I
am
of
small
account;
what
shall
I
answer
you?
I
lay
my
hand
on
my
mouth." Job
40:3-‐4
"Then
the
Unnameable
again
spoke
to
Job
from
within
the
whirlwind:
Do
you
dare
deny
my
judgment?
Am
I
wrong
because
you
are
right?
...
Dress
yourself
like
an
emperor.
Climb
up
onto
your
throne.
Unleash
your
savage
Justice.
Cut
down
the
rich
and
the
mighty.
Make
the
proud
man
grovel.
Pluck
the
wicked
from
their
perch.
Push
them
into
the
grave,
Throw
them,
screaming,
to
hell.
Then
I
will
admit
that
your
own
strength
can
save
you." Job
40:6-‐14
"Then
Job
said
to
the
Unnameable,..
I
have
spoken
of
the
unspeakable
and
tried
to
grasp
the
infinite.
Job
42:3
Well, we've got two more shots at Job—if you can bear it. Today in a voice out of
the whirlwind—God shows up. Next week we come back full cycle to the mystery
of suffering, trusting in the darkness. I wish I could preach both sermons back to
back because they really belong together. I'd be willing to do it, if you'd be willing
to sit through it, and be willing to let me take two offerings. (Laughter) I suppose
we had just better stick with two weeks, and you'll have to remember this week
that I don't say everything that needs to be said about this whole issue. I make
these comments to begin with because the voice out of the whirlwind is not a
soothing voice, and the God, revealed in the dramatic images of this whirlwind
experience of Job, is not a kind of comfy, cozy, divine parent. As we talk about the
God out of the whirlwind, don't hear me deny the comforts of religious faith. But
hear me suggest that maybe some of the ideas and conceptions that we have
about God, if we may be like Job, will need to be de-constructed in order that we
may be transformed with a deeper insight and a larger understanding of God.
How then should you listen to this sermon? Well, listen to this sermon as you
ought to listen to every sermon. Don't take it too seriously, but hear it as a
probing of mysteries that lie beyond our comprehension; hear it not as a
dogmatic claim of what is, but rather my best insight— knowing that in my
© Grand Valley State University
�God Beyond All Human Conceiving
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
insight cannot be your answer, because your answer must be your answer. If you
were to borrow my answer as your answer, it would crumble in the crunch.
Finally, I must place my feet, and finally you must place your feet too. So, let's
begin.
Note, in the first place, that Job shared the flawed theology of his friends. That
may surprise you, but think about it for a moment. He and his friends really go at
each other, but as a matter of fact they both shared the conventional wisdom, the
orthodox view we've been talking about. Job and his friends knew that God is into
the business of rewarding virtue and punishing sin. And they all agreed that if
one is suffering, then one has sinned, because that's the business of God—
rewarding virtue and punishing, causing suffering for the sinful.
But then Job had a problem because he began to suffer—terribly. And he knew he
was innocent. So, not asking himself whether he had the major premise right, but
rather knowing that he was suffering, and suffering is supposed to be the
consequence of sinning, and knowing that he is innocent he has no alternative
but to accuse God of being unjust. So he rails against heaven. Now, that brought
his friends to the attack, to defend God. But Job wouldn't hear of it. He knew that
he was suffering, and he knew that he was innocent, and therefore he was railing
against heaven. There are moments in that dialogue and discussion when it is
clear that Job still hung on to God, and somehow believed if only he could get his
case heard there was an ultimate justice and truth somewhere. Remember those
moving words:
"Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might state my case before
him. I go to the right and God is not there. I go to the left and God is not
there. I go forward, I go backward, God is absent. Oh, that I knew where I
might find God."
Well, God showed up.
In the written piece in the bulletin from William Safire, The First Dissident, I love
his description of God showing up. It is as if in answer to Job's pathetic cry
"Why?" God arrives in a tie-dyed t-shirt on which is emblazoned, "Because I am
God, that's why." Then God begins to speak and there is this panoply of cosmic
wonder in beautiful poetry of all the things that God is about, and the natural
world. Essentially God raises three questions to Job in that first speech: Who are
you? Where were you? Are you able? And Job says, "I am nothing. No, I wasn't
there." And "No, I am not able." But the interesting thing is that the issue that
Job has raised was a question of the suffering of the innocent, and the charge
against God was a charge of injustice.
In that whole first speech there is not one single reference to the real issue. God
simply sweeps the issue aside and overwhelms Job with cosmic management
responsibilities. Thereby, I suppose, the poet is saying what we have said earlier:
that retribution is not God's idea, that retribution is not what God is about, that
© Grand Valley State University
�God Beyond All Human Conceiving
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked is not God's business. In this
whirlwind voice, God with a mighty cosmic sweep, doesn't even make a reference
to the real issue of Job's life because it is as though God is saying, "Look, take
care of those things yourself. I am not into reward and punishment."
I remember when my kids were little we had a little Volkswagen "bug" in Europe.
There were three kids; two in the back seat and one in that little rumble seat. The
older two in the back seat were constantly arguing about who had the biggest
half. I got so irritated with those kids I finally took a ballpoint pen and on that
nice white seat I drew a line down the middle. And I said, "Now don't bother me
with that. Take care of that yourselves." Haven't you had your kids come
sometimes and they are fighting among themselves and don't you have to say to
them, "Go settle that yourself, I've got bigger fish to fry." So, I think God doesn't
even make reference to this thing that is so pressing for Job that he says as a
matter of fact, "Look, look what I am into!"
Job says, "Well, that's what I figured. I knew if I ever got a chance to take my case
to you that I would simply be overwhelmed. I know you are bigger than I am. I
never said you weren't, never denied you are really omnipotent, really something.
OK, I'll say no more, but I'll still think the same. You're unfair." At which point
God begins to blow with mighty bombast, this time saying to Job, "In order to
claim your own innocence, you don't have to make me wrong. Go ahead. Make
your case for being innocent. As a matter of fact, I know you are innocent. Go
ahead. Make your claim for being innocent, but don't base that claim on the fact
that I am wrong. Don't accuse me of injustice just because you as an innocent
person are suffering. Do you understand anything at all? Let me tell you what I
am about as creator of heaven and earth, as manager of the cosmos. Do you know
anything about the behemoth, that land monster full of brutality? Have you ever
heard of leviathan, the sea monster whose thrashing, lashing tail makes the sea
like a boiling cauldron?
You see, in the ancient Middle East, all peoples in those cultures shared a
common idea that creation was not something "boom" out of nothing, but rather
that the creator was one who took an existing chaos and was ordering it and
fashioning it into something harmonious and beautiful. "In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth." And the earth was void and empty and was
chaotic and the Wind, the breath of God, blew all over the stew, forming out of
the chaos cosmos.” You remember in Isaiah 2 that marvelous vision of the wolf
and the lamb lying down together. The wolf and the lamb lying down together,
and no one hurting in all God's holy mountain—that vision of the messianic
kingdom of Shalom, that wonderful energizing vision of what would be when God
got it all together. And the revelation to John on the Isle of Patmos, chapter 21.
You all know it. You have all heard it at every funeral you’ve ever attended "And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the former heaven and earth faded away
and there was no more." What? Shame on you—for lack of courage because I
know you know it. There was no more sea. I love to live on the edge of the sea
© Grand Valley State University
�God Beyond All Human Conceiving
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
with the gentle waves lapping, or the mighty billows breaking. I can't even
imagine the vision of paradise without the sea, but if you had lived in that ancient
culture you would have known that the sea was the source of chaos. That's where
leviathan lived. So that vision of things to come where the wolf and the lamb
would lie down together and they would not hurt or destroy in all God's holy
mountain was a place of a new heaven and a new earth, and there was no more
sea. There was no more threat of chaos. There was no more possibility of the
eruption of evil into God's good order.
But not yet. That's what God is saying in this second speech. "Not yet, Job. I am
doing the best I can. Oh! Why don't you come and play 'God for a Day.' Come on,
Job, get on the throne. Go ahead. If you would act the way you want me to act,
O.K., then do it—crush evil, throw the wicked into hell, get everything lined up
there. That's the way you want me to do it. Is that the way you would want me to
do it? Come on, sit in my place for a day and have absolute power and then see
how you would manage this cosmic reality. Because with heavy totalitarian hand
you would want me to crush the wicked and destroy all evil, then what you would
have me do is to deny the very nature of the reality that I have created ... the
values that I value. You would rule out the possibility then of moral choice and
freedom of spontaneous worship and adoration, of virtue for its own sake. You
would take away that which is intrinsic and central to the fabric of reality as I
have called it forth. You come; you play God. How would you do it?
Oh, yes, Job, I know it’s very much in process. It’s far from perfect. There are the
wicked who prosper and there are the innocent who suffer. Cancer grows on
beautiful young bodies and blood clots form, and loved ones are lost and it hurts .
. . and it’s dark .. . and it’s painful. Human existence is vulnerable and it’s
perilous, and it’s open to terror. Yes, Job, I know. Don't you think I know? But
what would you do, Job, if you could play 'God for a Day?'"
Job said, "I didn't know. .. I didn't know. I am all focused in my own little internal
concerns and issues. I changed my mind. That is, I repent. I take my words back
accusing you of injustice. I don't know. I have spoken things I didn't understand.
I've tried to bring into manageable terms infinite reality. I... I dissolve."
And that was the point of Job's transformation. His issues never got dealt with.
Suddenly he began to think in larger terms with a grander vision, and realized
that he had two alternatives: To remain in an embittered cynicism or to 'Trust
God in the Darkness." Shades of next week.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33f66452e1d3ab172dfed1e79851147d.mp3
0969e5de72dc2546bb48b0553c82a50a
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 XI
Series
The Job Series
Scripture Text
Job 38: 1,4, 40:3-4, 6-14, 42:3
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-0-19940807
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-08-07
Title
A name given to the resource
God Beyond All Human Conceiving
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
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 August 7, 1994 entitled "God Beyond All Human Conceiving", as part of the series "The Job Series", on the occasion of Pentecost XI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 38: 1,4, 40:3-4, 6-14, 42:3.
Creation
Nature of God
Pentecost
Transformation Hebrew Scriptures
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d97c24fd462fe79bf66c65813cf8428d.pdf
9e467acb12c4513d6e3c141e6a3a20d3
PDF Text
Text
God, Humanity and Cosmos
From the sermon series on the Cosmos
Text: Psalm 8: 4-5
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 15, 1981
Transcription of the spoken sermon
What is man that thou art mindful of him, …dost care for him? Yet thou hast
made him a little less than God. Psalm 8: 4-5
Through a happy coincidence, this was an exciting week in the old U.S. of A. as
we once again accomplished a great triumph of science and technology, sending
into space again our Spaceship Columbia, watching it blast off with all of the
drama of those moments, and then, in order that we might report its safe return
this morning, the mission was shortened, and they came back yesterday. Exciting,
really, isn't it? And doesn't it boggle the mind to think about the human potential,
to think about what human intelligence is able to effect? Isn't it amazing, really,
when you contemplate the nature of such events? Truly it is thrilling. Yet we
become so easily accustomed to the dramatic and the sensational. If we were to
tell our forefathers that these things were happening, they wouldn't believe it.
They would say it was impossible. At best they might say, "Well, it's a miracle."
Well, it is a miracle, in a sense. But in another sense, it is simply that the human
mind has been able to probe the secrets of reality in order to accomplish a
mission like that and continue the exploration of the cosmos.
I kidded about them bringing the spacecraft home early so that we would know
this morning that they were successful, but, as a matter of fact, that decision was
made, though not for that reason. As I was thinking about Psalm 2 and the
psalmist's reflection upon the cosmos and then upon himself, who he was in
relationship to God, I thought that decision was a rather nice illustration of the
second Psalm, for a choice was made in favor of human life over the probing of
the cosmos. If the psalmist was impressed with the cosmos, then how much more
you and me? If he was impressed with what he could see, which was but an
infinitesimal fragment of what there is, if he was impressed with his smallness
over against the vastness of space and the eons of time, which are becoming more
and more clear to us, then how much more must we be impressed with our
smallness and our insignificance? And yet, when one of the three fuel cells of that
spacecraft failed, a decision had to be made as to whether to let the mission run
its course, or to bring it home early. Two fuel cells were enough to allow the
© Grand Valley State University
�God, Humanity and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
mission to take its full run. But then, down to two, if one should fail, the mission
and human life would be in jeopardy. And so, at headquarters, discussion was
held and the decision was made. They came home early, even though involved
were scores and scores of people, and millions and millions of dollars and all of
that which is at stake. They brought that mission home early because in this
nation, standing in the biblical tradition, we know the value and the sanctity of
human life. And when it comes to taking a risk and succeeding with a few more
scientific experiments, but placing at the same time, human life in jeopardy, there
is really no question, because we know in the face of space's immensity and time's
ever-rolling stream, that there is still one thing that counts supremely, and that is
a human being.
Now that is really the same kind of conclusion that the psalmist came to. On the
one hand, he said,
Lord, when I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which you
have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of
man, that you care for him?
He felt his smallness and his insignificance. He was overwhelmed by the
immensity of the heavens overhead, and he recognized that his days were but a
brief span of time. His littleness in the vastness of it all gave him such a sense of
insignificance and smallness.
As I said, if he felt small, how about us? We have to say that in our own day there
have been a lot of people who have been unable to move with the modern
conception of the universe and maintain a faith in God the Creator. The psalmist
had a correct intuition. I mean, who are we, really, when you think of it? Fifteen
to twenty billion years in the process, and now we are here, threescore years and
ten, perhaps. Why, our lifespan is a blink of the eye. And when you realize, as Carl
Sagan says in his book, Cosmos, that the earth is a speck of dust, circling a
humdrum star, our sun - just an average old humdrum star - you begin to realize
the vastness of the cosmos. We are on a speck of dust circling a humdrum star in
a corner of an insignificant galaxy; and if we are on but a speck of dust in the
vastness of space, so are our days but an instant in the eons of time. When you
really stop to think about it, I mean when you really stop to contemplate it, can
you still believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth?
You see, there have been many of our contemporaries who have not been able to
make that move and that adjustment. We have opened up the mysteries of the
cosmos, and it is a most exciting day in which to be alive. But what has to happen
is not only that the cosmos expands before our eyes, but our conception of God
must grow commensurately. As J.B. Phillips wrote so many years ago, Your God
Is Too Small.
We have to admit, too, that in the Church we have not been very good at helping
people to make this adjustment.
© Grand Valley State University
�God, Humanity and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
In the most recent issue of Science '81, an excellent magazine which was placed in
my hands, there is a centerfold on Creationism – Creationism as opposed to
Evolutionism, and all of the controversy that is being stirred up by the
fundamentalist wing of the Christian Church today. It recounts how several states
have gone to court to get equal time for the doctrine of Creation in their schools.
It is a very interesting development. This is a science magazine. And in this report
it was stated what we have been saying here over and over again, that all of the
scientific investigation of the cosmos, whether in biology or physics or geology or
in whatever field - all of these investigations really do not impinge upon whether
or not God created the heavens and the earth, and whether or not I can still
believe that this is my Father's world. That really isn't at issue. But the problem
with the fundamentalist wing of the Church that is stirring up all this controversy
is that it is creating, once again, that overagainstness with science, and that
mindset in much of the Christian Church that there is something destructive to
faith in all of this explosion of knowledge in the natural sciences. That is tragic.
We do ourselves a great disservice.
If you feel good when you see some television evangelist pounding the pulpit and
talking in terms of creation over against a godless, atheistic evolutionism, don't
clap, because he is not on your side, if you are on the side of God and Truth. That
is a false distinction, that is a false antithesis, and it is deadly. It is deadly because
it offends the best minds and the best spirits, and it creates the illusion that to be
a Christian you have to take off your head, shut down your mind and refuse to
survey the vast amount of data that is there for anyone with any common sense.
We can't play that game any longer. We have to admit that what the psalmist saw,
the immensity of the universe and the eons of time and all of this which has
become even more clear to us will necessitate an adjustment of our
understanding of God.
We simply cannot have this neat, secure little world, little planet Earth and our
few thousands of years and our literal, biblical account of things, because, you
see, the biblical writers were not writing physics, were not writing biology, were
not talking about geology. The writers of the Bible thought that this was a threestory universe, with heaven above and the waters under the earth. God didn't
whisper in their ears and give them some revelation of the mysteries of physics.
This is not a science textbook, and you cannot find out about the process of the
created order, you cannot find out about the stages which have brought us to this
present point by going to the scriptures. The only thing the scriptures will tell
you, and of course the only thing that really matters, is that in the beginning was
God, and that He will be in the end, and that He is with us in the meantime.
When the psalmist looked up and thought, "Oh my goodness, I'm not much,"
then how much more we, and we simply have to recognize that we need to do
some readjusting because, as a matter of fact, this old, cosmological, evolutionary
process has been going on for a long, long time. There is no doubt about that. And
it has been following a course of natural development which now is more and
© Grand Valley State University
�God, Humanity and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
more understood, with many mysteries still to be unraveled, but which will be
unraveled. We live in a day which is right at the crest of a breakthrough that will
continue to explode and explode and explode all around us. The more we learn,
the more access we have to deeper mysteries, and when you saw Columbia come
in and land right on the second and right on the line, that is simply a sign and a
finger pointing beyond itself to the most fantastic dreams that are even now
welling up in human hearts and minds. Never say never! Because before you die,
it will have happened.
But the psalmist had another insight, and that is the critical insight, for he not
only experienced his smallness and his insignificance, but he went on to say,
"Thou hast created him a little less than God. Thou hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the whole created order." That is
the biblical insight. That is the significant fact. That is the uniqueness of being
human. That is the religious issue, for it doesn't really matter how long it's been
going on, and it doesn't really matter how vast the immensity of space. The fact is
that we are here now at this point in the process, and we are human. The psalmist
recognized that there is something about being human which is nearly divine.
And if I were to put it in a sentence, I would say to you this morning that the
message is simply this - You are really something. That's the biblical message.
We may be impressed with distance, and we may be impressed with age, but what
we really ought to stand in awe before is the mystery of being human, the wonder
of what it is to be man and woman, created in the image of God, for what the
psalmist was saying here when he said, "Thou hast made him a little less than
God," was what the writer of the Genesis account was saying when he said, "God
created man and woman in His own image." God created a creature over against
himself and made him almost divine. He created a creature with selfconsciousness and with a measure of freedom and self-determination, and with
responsibility and the opportunity to fall in worship and adoring praise before the
Creator of it all.
You are really something! To be human is the greatest mystery reflecting the
deepest majesty of the whole cosmological process.
When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the
stars which thou hast established: what is man that thou art mindful of
him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made
him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou
hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands… Psalm 8: 3-6
We are created to be the co-laborers with God, partners with God in this creative
process. We are endowed with gifts, with human potential, and we have the
powers and the ability to reflect the divine image. We can think His thoughts
after Him, and we can enter into His creative activity, and with the things that
have already been accomplished through the exercise of human intelligence, who
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
would dare say what the frontier finally would be? You are really something, and
good religion will affirm human personality.
Now, we need to hear that in the Church, too, don't we, because for too long we
have spoken disparagingly of human personality. Nothing I say this morning
would in any way detract from the fact which we have faced honestly that there is
something desperately wrong with us all and we fall short of the glory of God.
There is a meanness about us and a contrariness; someone, somewhere has
thrown a wrench in the works, and man's inhumanity to man is given eloquent
testimony from beginning to end. But in the Church, so often that is where we
have left it. We talk about our misery and fail to talk about our grandeur. We talk
about our fallenness and fail to take in the destiny to which we have been called.
God has dealt with our sin, and by His grace, calls us to realize our destiny and to
develop the full potential with which he has endowed us, and to reflect the divine
image. You are really somebody. You reflect God. You were created in His image,
a little less than Him, and He has created us in order to be in relationship with
Him, to live in communion, and to live not only in communion with Him, but in
communion one with another, and in interpersonal relationships where there is
love and care and forgiveness and grace. There is a little bit of heaven. God and
His creature, living in fellowship and communion, one with another and with
Him, define the ultimate miracle and the meaning of the whole process.
Now, that is terribly important to affirm and it ought to make you feel really good
about yourself, because you really are somebody. You have potential untapped,
you have gifts yet undreamed of, you have possibilities without limit. You are
almost divine, and God calls us to that upward way more and more to respond to
that destiny for which he has shaped us, to be prepared for the future that He has
for us.
Now, when you watch Carl Sagan on Cosmos, be enrapt with him in the
excitement of exploring the mysteries of the physical world. And I affirm that,
and I love it, and when you study it, as I have more and more, you are so
impressed with the simplicity on the other side of complexity. The complexity of
the cosmos and humankind seems so apparent. But once the smoke has cleared
there appears a simplicity in the created order. All of us and all matter is made up
of the same building blocks, the same atoms, the same fundamental elements,
whether here on planet Earth or the moon or Jupiter or the sun or your beating,
human heart. Everything, being composed of very simple and fundamental
elements, seems to reflect a divine intelligence which can hardly be conceived of.
But when you watch Carl Sagan and he begins to suggest that that process that
has moved through all of the eons of time and all of that evolutionary process to
the present moment is purposeless, the product of chance, when he begins to
suggest that you are the latest and highest expression, and that there is no one
beyond, then don't you believe him, for then he is no longer a scientist; then he is
in the sphere of religion. He suggests that maybe the universes are not the
© Grand Valley State University
�God, Humanity and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
dreams of God, but rather, that God may be the dream of man. He is saying that
we have come to this point and then we have simply projected out, beyond
ourselves the God that we wish were there.
When he begins to talk that way, he has lost me. Then he has said that I am
simply the consequence of all of that process of development having really no
freedom and no unique spiritual character, related to all that went before but
missing completely that relationship to Him Who is beyond and above. Then I
know that he has missed the ultimate truth. Nothing that he says about our
relationship to the cosmos is in any way in conflict to that relationship we have
with a God Who spoke and called it into being. But to deny that God and to end
up here is to leave me alone without a home and without meaning. Human
existence, then, is the chance result of spontaneous reactions along billions of
years. His explanation for the first development of life is that in a primeval soup
one cell got the ability to reproduce itself and then through billions of years,
organizing by perhaps a light ray striking a cell and causing a change, a mutation,
and finally organizing and gathering and getting more and more complex, until
finally one glob of cells woke up and said, "Well, here I am." Now, that takes faith
to believe.
When we contemplate what it is to be human, then we need not deny that whole
process. But to me, it makes far more sense to believe that in the beginning there
was an Intelligence that said, "Let there be..." with a purpose, and a purpose of
love that moved the process to a point at which one day there was someone who
looked into the face of God and experienced relationship, communion.
For finally, what is ultimate and what is important?
At NASA this week they made a decision, and a correct decision, for there is really
nothing in the whole cosmos, there is no experiment, there is no technological
breakthrough so important and so pressing that it would be worth placing in
jeopardy one human life, one human life that knows itself as free and in
relationship, able to love and to care.
A couple of weeks ago when Nancy and I were at Mayo's, we did a lot of sitting
and waiting for our names to be called. You watch a lot of people and a lot of
people in various states of difficulty and need. It's always obvious when, for
example, a son or a daughter has brought an aged parent, maybe in a wheelchair
or helping them along to the desk. You think a lot about people and you watch
them. Nancy was telling me about two old gentlemen, the one helping the other,
hobbling along, finally getting to the desk because his name had been called, and
the other who was helping said to the nurse, "Is it all right if I go in with him?
You know, he's my brother."
Well, you know, to me that's more impressive than a thousand billion galaxies.
Isn't it, really? What finally counts? We stand not in any conflict with any
scientific probe of the depths of reality. Half of the physicists are mystics, trying
© Grand Valley State University
�God, Humanity and Cosmos
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
to determine the nature of what is. That is an exciting venture; it is a human
venture. But we do stand in the midst of the darkness of space and the eons of
time to say that, whatever else may be, this is ultimately important — we are, and
we know one another, and we have learned to love and to care because into our
lives, in our own flesh, has appeared Jesus. Jesus, in whose face we have seen the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and found Him to be gracious.
Ah, you are really something! You are really somebody. There are no limits to the
possibilities that await you and, as the writer to the Hebrews recognized, what we
see now is only a part. We see Jesus, not yet all things put into subjection to him,
but the whole tenor of that New Testament, in the wake of Jesus, tells us that
there is a future, the contours of which we have not yet begun to dream about.
For eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of
man to conceive of the things that God has prepared for them that love Him.
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children
of God; and so we are. I John 3: 1f (RSV)
And what we shall be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears,
we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And throughout all Eternity
we will be brothers and sisters with our Lord, lost in wonder, love and praise of
the God Who spoke and called all things into being. Blessed be His holy name.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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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.
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Interfaith worship
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Rhem, Richard A.
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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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1981-2014
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Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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1981-11-15
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God, Humanity and Cosmos
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Richard A. Rhem
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Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 15, 1981 entitled "God, Humanity and Cosmos", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9.
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Community
Cosmic Evolution
Creation
Creator
Creature
Grace
Image of God
Love
Nature of God
Nature of the Human
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/045f1ed44d00c68d0de586feee0aac78.mp3
a3c63b3a70f42088495a9ecc872fb5eb
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/743dcb215101ac73b41b4cb8736b597d.pdf
7633130373880364236bb916d97c8ade
PDF Text
Text
God’s Grace in Our Gloom
From the sermon series: This is Our Father’s World
Text: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20; 6: 2
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Reformation Sunday, October 27, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them… II Corinthians 5: 19
…be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5: 20
…now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6: 2
It is fitting that on Reformation Sunday we should address the theme, "God's
Grace in Our Gloom,” because it was especially the Grace of God that came to
expression in the 16th Century in the Reformation of the Church. It was the
message of justification by faith, which was rooted in the gracious outreach of
God toward His lost and straying children that was the good news of the Gospel
that reverberated across the European continent. It was that message which had
gotten buried under Traditionalism; that message, that good news which had
been lost in the Church's control of people and its manipulation of people
through tradition and structure and a kind of sacramental practice that did not
come off as good news, but rather as bad news. God's grace in our gloom is a fit
Reformation theme and it is also a fit subject for discussion of these early
chapters of Genesis that we are looking for in these weeks.
This is our Father's world, and in this world He has a struggle because He created
us with the ability to disobey and turn our backs upon Him. He called us to a
great destiny but gave us the freedom either to respond or not to respond and
since He doesn't crush us or coerce us, since He doesn't use His almighty power
to roll over us like a steam roller, but rather waits and pleads, there is built into
the very structure of Creation the possibility that the one created in His image
will not respond to Him, but rather will reject Him; will not find his peace in
being the creature in the care of the Creator, but rather, as a rebel, will revolt
against the Creator and the authority of God.
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
The early chapters of Genesis are foundational for all that follows, and in
Chapters two and three we find the creation of man and woman and their
Temptation and Fall, falling out of fellowship with God and bringing with it all
the consequences that came in the wake of that rebellion. As we look at these
chapters, I want you to see that in Chapters one and two we really have two
Creation accounts.
We looked at the first Creation account the last two weeks; the fact that all there
is, is because God said, "Let there be ..." And then the most fundamental fact
about the human being - that he and she are created in the image of God. I said
last week that was the most fundamental fact, and it is. I said last week there is
more to be said, and we will do that this week, but before I go on to say any more,
I want to stress once again that the human being is created in the image of God.
That means that you are a person of dignity, of worth and of value. It means that
the human being, then, can never be put down, and it means that we ought never
to put ourselves down. We have been created in the image of God, and that is the
most fundamental truth about our human nature. We reflect God. As the
Psalmist said, He made us a little lower than Himself. It was precisely in the
grandeur with which He created us that there lay the potential for the disaster
that has ensued upon our turning away from Him. But even in our turning away
from Him and the tragedy that we have introduced into the world, we have not
overcome the most fundamental fact and that is that we are created in the image
of God, we reflect God; in other words, you are really something!
Now, I think in the Church we have perhaps had the stress the other way around.
We have stressed the human being as sinner rather than the human being as
creature. I don't want to make that mistake. I want to say it again loud and clear the human being created in the image of God is really something! You are really
something. And our sin and rebellion with all of its disastrous consequences has
never wiped out that most fundamental fact - that we were created like God and
we are still called to be His ally and His friend and companion to live in
relationship with God and with our fellow men. That is fundamental.
Now, in these opening chapters, after Chapter one where we have the Creation
account, we have in Chapter two a second Creation account where the focus is on
the creation of man and woman. This is that delightful story of God's scooping up
the clay and forming the man and breathing into him the breath of life,
subsequently also seeing that it is not good for man to dwell alone, creating the
woman from Adam's rib from which some have derived the idea that woman is
really a "de-rib-ative" of man. (Sorry about that - I can never resist those.)
Actually, that creation of the woman, a second act of Creation, would indicate
that man and woman are created equally, that they stand equally before God. We
could have a whole sermon and a whole series of sermons on the legitimacy of the
feminist movement on the basis of Genesis one and two, and we could point out
the tale of error and of horror which has ensued from a misreading of those
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
chapters in regard to the oppression of women down through the centuries. So,
women of the world, unite! You've got biblical basis. But I'm not going to go into
that today. I simply want to say that in Chapter two you have man and woman
created by God and set in a garden in what we call that state of paradise.
And then we have Chapter three and there we have the Temptation and the
succumbing to temptation and the consequent judgment of God. And then
Chapter four we will look at next week -the first murder. - it would seem that
there is another Fall. And Chapter six, the story of the Flood, the disobedience
and the judgment of God - another Fall. And then God starting over again, but in
Chapter nine the Tower of Babel - another Fall, where finally the race
demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will not live as the creatures
of God under His care and His communion, but rather as rebels against God and
structuring life apart from Him.
The early chapters of Genesis are the prelude to the story of Israel, to the call and
the election of Abraham and the whole redemptive history that followed. The first
eleven chapters are like a prelude to all of that specific history, and in these first
eleven chapters the great issues of humankind and of God and of history are dealt
with. And what I want you to see is that man and woman created in Chapter two
and in that garden of paradise may not be separated from man and woman in
Chapter three. The chapter divisions of the Bible are very handy for reference. I
don't know what I would do about my text if it wasn't that there is Genesis one
and two and three and so on, and all of those little verses that give preachers text,
but as a matter of fact, what comes through is the idea in Chapter two that you
have man and woman perfect in paradise, Chapter three as though now you make
another step and you have man and woman in the Garden rebelling and falling
into sin.
If I were to try to wipe out of your mind the idea of a perfect state in paradise in
Chapter two and the Fall of mankind in Chapter three, I would give up before I
would start. It is so deeply engrained in our consciousness; we have thought so
long that way that I don't think it is possible to get that out of your head, but if I
could get it out of your heart, I would, because then I would say to you that what
we have in Genesis two and three is not the story of Mr. Adam and Mrs. Eve, two
historical figures way back in primeval history. What we have in Genesis two and
three is the story of every man and every woman; the story of Adam and Eve is
the story of you and me. The story of Adam and Eve is not about some primeval,
distant past at the dawn of Creation. The story of Adam and Eve is the story about
every human being that has ever been born, and those chapters which make one
continuous story and ought not to be read in two stories, are not historical
accounts such as we find later in the Old Testament when, for example, we read
the exploits of David. David was a real historical figure, he was a king of Israel, he
fought battles and did all kinds of things and we can read that in the kind of
interpreted history that we have in the Old Testament.
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
We are not dealing with that kind of material in Genesis two and three. In the
first chapter we are told that God spoke and created all things, and we are told
that He created the human being in His own image. And now Chapters two
through eleven will begin to unravel that story in preparation for the real story of
the Bible that begins with Abraham. And these chapters are necessary because
the Israelite who knew God as the God of Redemption said, "How do we relate to
the rest of mankind? How does God relate to the rest of mankind? And if God is
good and Creation is good, why is life so tough? If God is good and Creation is
good - if it all came from Him, then why are things in such a mess? If God is good
and this is His good Creation, then why is there such sorrow and such pain and
such tragedy in the world?"
Those are ultimate questions. Those are not questions about fig leaves and apple
trees and snakes and two primeval human beings scurrying around the bushes.
Those are the ultimate questions of life. Why is there anything rather than
nothing? Who created the heavens and the earth? What relationship does the
human being have to God? He is created in God's image; he is like God; he
reflects the very being of God.
Well, if the human being came from God and if all of Creation was pronounced
good, then why is the human being like he is? Why are there wars and trials and
all of the dark shadows that are a part of the human scene?
Those are the questions underlying those early chapters. And in the third chapter,
which we read a moment ago, we have the people of Israel, the people who had
come to know God, the people who came to believe that their God was a God Who
redeemed them in the Exodus experience and was also the Creator of the heavens
and the earth. God alone. We have their testimony as to the fact that God is good
and Creation is good and that humankind was created by God for His own
purpose: created to live in relationship and fellowship with God, but given such a
great gift of freedom, there was the opportunity for him to become a rebel rather
than one who lived in relationship. And so those chapters are there to tell us the
story of the Fall. Let me say it again: Not an historical story as though on Day One
of Creation Adam and Eve walked to the Garden and picked grapes and chewed
nuts and had fellowship with each other and a chat with God that evening. Day
Two maybe went all right, and maybe Day Three, maybe six weeks, maybe six
months, but eventually a snake came in and then there was a time when it all fell
apart.
Friends, that’s not what the story is all about. The story is a symbol; it is a sign,
and it says to us that there is something about human nature that has endemic
within it this struggle against the God Who is its only hope and its salvation, and
in that story what it is saying to us, first of all, is that there are things that are
wrong in the world, and there certainly are; it's not God's fault. What it is saying
to us as human beings is that God created us good with a potential for good and
for obedience, for following the path of life, but that there is something within us
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
that seems to choose the path that leads to disaster. It is saying to us that
whatever sin is, it is not part and parcel of Creation. It does not stem from God,
and you can't blame it on the Devil. Whatever sin is, whatever is wrong, is wrong
because you and I choose to be wrong. That's the biblical message. It's a tough
message because it holds us accountable. It does not allow us to slough off the
accusing finger in any direction. We cannot blame God. We cannot blame the
Devil. We cannot blame the environment or the circumstances, for that symbolic
story tells us that we were created in the image of God and put in a situation that
can be described as paradisiacal, that we had everything going for us and that in
spite of all that, we turned our back on the One Who is life-giving and the source
of all blessing. That is what the story is trying to tell us.
And you see, it is my story and it is your story. Until we read the Bible as not
some ancient book with answers to the questions that our curiosities might raise,
but rather as a book that addresses us - until we can read this book so that my
story becomes a part of The Story, then I see that I am a part of Adam and then I
realize that whatever is wrong in my life and whatever dire consequences have
flowed from those wrong choices, they are my choices. I am responsible. And that
is one of the greatest things you can say to a human being. You are responsible.
You are responsible for your life; you are responsible for your choices; and you
are guilty when you choose the wrong way. Otherwise, what are we?
Animals cannot be guilty. They have no freedom of choice. And those who have
no mental capacity and no freedom of choice - neither can they be guilty. It is
only people who are created with that God-like characteristic that can be held
accountable as we are accountable, and in the story, this ancient story by which
Israel came to understand itself, it was saying that there is something that is
deadly wrong in the human heart and it stems from the human will. It is not
because God did it to us, and it is not because the Devil did it to us, and it is not
because the situation is so bad.
Now, some situations are bad and environment does shape and there does, over
the centuries and the generations, come to build up a kind of fate that does have
its impact upon us. I don't want to say that we all come into the world with
pristine situations where we can choose freely without any influence, any impact
of environment or of heredity. All of that is true. But finally to be human is to be
responsible and to choose. And the scriptures tell us that we chose to be gods
rather than to be creatures of God. And so, the story will go on, the prelude to
that history of God with Israel and Jesus, that we have in the Old and New
Testaments, will go on and we will see another instance and another instance and
another instance of this fatal flaw within us.
But as we see that, we will also hear the more dominant note - the note of Grace.
Even in this third chapter, if we had gone on to read, we would find that God
speaks to that serpent and says that, although the serpent will bruise the heel of
the seed of the woman, the seed of the woman will finally crush the head of the
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
serpent, and that has always been seen in the history of the Church as the first
promise of the Gospel, so that the seed of the woman Paul interpreted as
referring to Jesus. And the final crushing of the serpent's head as Jesus'
crucifixion whereby he put an end to death taking upon himself our sin and our
guilt.
Even in Chapter three of Genesis there is a foregleam of something to come. But
if we go to the New Testament we find those great themes that set Martin Luther
afire and Zwingli and Calvin and the rest. For the theme of the Bible is not human
disobedience, is not human depravity and human sin. Oh, it's there and really you
cannot underscore it enough, but if you stay there you miss the theme of the
Bible, which is the theme of Grace. It is the story of God's grace in our gloom.
Now, the thing that happened in the medieval Church was that the Church
became the controlling agent of people's lives. It was almost as though the
Church said, "You are sinners, and we're glad, because now we can control you."
And the thing that really set off Luther and set off Zwingli was that agents of the
Church were going through the land and were collecting money to say prayers to
release loved ones from purgatory and one could even buy one’s indulgence into
the sins that one might commit next week. And of course this was not the whole
Church, but it was right at the heart of the Church and there were those who were
going through the continent of Europe raising funds for the erection of St. Peter's.
And there were good Catholic priests who said, "This is wrong." Martin Luther
was one of them. Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland, was another. And they
began to preach the Grace of God and as they began to preach the Grace of God,
people responded to good news, because now it was no longer, "Come forward
and drop in a coin or burn in Hell." Now it was not the continual laying on people
their guilt and their unworthiness and their sin in order to hold them down and
control them and manipulate them, but now it was the announcement of what
God had done in the face of their sin. So that we have a proclamation like Paul's
in the New Testament lesson where he says certainly we are sinful; certainly the
whole world is guilty before God. But God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself so that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed
away; all things are become new. So that Paul understood himself as an
ambassador of Christ and he went through the world and he said, "Be ye
reconciled with God. Stop hiding in the bushes!"
Oh, that profound question of Genesis three as God walks through the Garden in
that symbolic story and he says, "Where are you?" and Adam says, "I was afraid."
Guilt, fear, shame. And the Lord God comes down and says, "Where are you?"
Where are you, not because I want to lombast you, but where are you because I
want to embrace you. Where are you because I want to love you, I want to tell you
about my Grace which is greater than all your sins.
For the New Testament message was that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to Himself, for God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
made the righteousness of God in him. And so the Apostle goes on to quote the
Old Testament and he says, "In the day that you hear his voice, harden not your
heart. This is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation." In other words,
receive this good news. Accept this Gospel. Come and get a forgiveness that is
already provided. If we would take one other New Testament passage, the fifth
chapter of Romans, we would find Paul dealing with Genesis three and he says,
"As in one man all sin, so in one man all are made righteous." And in that fifth
chapter of Romans, it is the most glorious song, anthem, proclamation of the
superiority of Grace. For one man sinned but the obedience of one man far
surpassed it. And the disobedience of Adam was one thing, but the obedience of
Christ was greater and the greater triumph of Grace throughout that passage is a
marvelous testimony to the fact that the Church has one theme to proclaim and
that is the triumph of Grace. That's the good news.
And so you see, I didn't spend very long in Genesis three. It is the recognition of
the Old Testament people of God that there is something wrong; there is
something deadly wrong. I am wrong and you are wrong, and there is no softpedaling the guilt of the human heart. But I am Adam and I am Eve and you are
Adam and you are Eve and the last word is not, "Get out of the Garden." The last
word is, "Be reconciled to God." For where sin aboundeth, Grace did much more
abound.
Now, how can the Church be a place of bad news? How can the Church ever send
anyone out guilty? How can the Church ever send anyone out in despair and
hopeless, burdened with all of the rock of their life? There's only one message
that ought to be sounded from the pulpit, from the evangelical pulpit, from the
Christian pulpit, from the pulpit that is grounded in the Word of God and that is,
"Be reconciled to God. Accept your acceptance, because you are already accepted
and there's nothing you can do about it, except say, 'Thank you.'"
God's Grace in our gloom. That's the bottom line. Thanks be to God!
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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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
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>
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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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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Event
Reformation Sunday
Pentecost XXII
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2
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/.
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KII-01_RA-0-19851027
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1985-10-27
Title
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God's Grace in Our Gloom
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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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
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
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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 October 27, 1985 entitled "God's Grace in Our Gloom", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2.
Creation
Forgiveness
Freedom
Genesis
Grace of God
Hebrew Scriptures
Judgment
Reformation
Sin
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0120e21bbd6370e290d139caf3c21b40.mp3
afc648e986bb202fbbe57fea09b0b1eb
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33fed34f89f0317aef1833a8500d9624.pdf
cb2feedc0669bc8e77548048aa5bd1ff
PDF Text
Text
Human Community in the Image of God
From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World
Text: Philippians 2: 1-11
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 20, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by
being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one
mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better
than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the
interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ
Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has
highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. Philippians 2: 1-11
This is our Father's world. We can be comfortable here because it is not an alien
environment; it is a created reality made for us, and we for it. This is our Father's
world. This is the great affirmation of the opening chapters of the scripture. As we
look for a few weeks at those first eleven chapters of Genesis, which are so
foundational for all the rest of biblical faith, I want to focus today on the creation
of man and woman, on the creation of the human person. I want to say that we
are created for human community; created in the image of God for human
community. We are created for God and for one another, and our creation from
the hand of God reflects our value and our worth and our dignity. I can't say
everything in this message that there is to be said about the human being, the
human creature. I'll have to come back in another week and I'll have to deal with
the shadow side, that rebellion that has led to alienation and all of the havoc that
we have created in the wake of that. So, what I'm going to say today is far more
fundamental than what I'm going to say next week. It's far more important for
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
you to hear that you are a creature of God and loved by Him and created for His
glory than it is to hear that you're a sinner. We've reversed that in the Church.
We've stressed so much that we are sinners, and I suppose that is because the
need has to be created before the remedy can be applied, but the most
fundamental thing is that we are created in the image of God. Human potential
and human possibility, human dignity and human worth - that's more
fundamental than human deviation. It's a great message. And incidentally,
perhaps if that message were heard more, there would be less of the shadow side
manifesting itself. If we could ever get hold of the fact of who we really are, we
might start acting like it. So, this message is to underscore the simple truth that
as human beings, as men and women, we are created by the good and gracious
God.
I want to say just a couple of simple things which you know already, but I'll say
them again - we are created by God, we are created in the image of God, and we
are created by God for community with Him and with one another. That's as
simple as it is. We are created by God, and to say that we are created by God is to
make an affirmation which in the Church may seem a truism which everybody
believes and nobody would deny, but we don't live our lives out just in the Church
and in the community of faith, and we have to recognize that, when we say that
we are created by God, that is not a self-evident truth; it is not something
believed by everybody; it is not something believed by every thinking person. It is
a biblical statement. It is an affirmation of faith.
We have to recognize that our conviction about creation based on the scriptures
is a conviction that arises out of the proclamation of the scripture. The opening
chapters of Genesis are like the creed of creation. They are a song, they are a
message, they are a sermon. They are not a religious speculative statement; they
are not a philosophical discussion. They are not a scientific statement. They are
affirmations of faith based on the experience of God's grace in Jesus Christ, or in
Israel's case, God's grace in that deliverance from bondage in Egypt. The
conviction about creation is an article about faith. We believe it, but we have to
recognize that it is not self-evident. We have to recognize, too, that it is so
foundational for so much else that we believe that we cannot simply take it for
granted, but we must continue to make that affirmation intelligently, selfconsciously with awareness. Because if we lose that, we lose everything. Almost
everything that we believe subsequently in our biblical faith is posited on our
conviction that we are creatures of worth and value and dignity because we have
come from the hand of the Creator. There are other philosophies about, and
there's a good deal of contrary opinion, and in very scholarly circles.
Sometimes to make a point it is good to hear the other side, and I did that last
week, and I want to do it once again. This time I cite as an example a Nobel Prizewinning biologist, Jacque Monod, in his book, Chance and Necessity. Already the
title tells you something, doesn't it? Chance and necessity as over against
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
purpose, intelligence and loving intention. Chance and necessity. This is what he
said after a very negative statement about the human situation:
If he that is a human person accepts this negative message in its full
significance, man at last must wake out of his millenary dreams and
discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that,
like a gypsy, he lives on the boundary of an alien world, a world that is deaf
to his music and is indifferent to his hopes as it is to his suffering or his
crimes.
We say we are created by God. Well, wait a minute. What if that isn't true? If that
is not true, then the other is true. Then we can't say this is our Father’ s world,
and that somehow or other we are a part of the whole created reality.
We say that this is a friendly environment which is good. According to the
commentary of the Creator, there is a place where we can become what He has
intended us to be. If that isn't true, then the other is true, that we live on the
boundary of an alien world contrary to our purposes. Or worse, just indifferent to
our purposes. Indifferent to our music. And indifferent to our hopes, our
sufferings, our crimes. What that statement says is that, however we are involved
in this process of human history as human creatures, there is no one at the
beginning and there's no one at the end, and we aren't going anywhere in terms
of any purpose or meaning. Now, I quote a very scholarly opinion so that I don't
give the impression that biblical faith is just obvious and self-evident. No, there
are good thinking people who have come to this kind of conclusion. That's why I
say it is important for us to hear this as a declaration of faith. Then it's important
for us to begin to draw the implications. The implications of Jacque Monod are
that we have to wake up, grow up, face up to the darkness, to the coldness, to the
meaningless of it all, so that whatever meaning there is, we'll have to create;
whatever love there is, we'll have to generate. But there's no one and there's
nothing more.
We don't believe that. We believe that God created us with an intention for our
good. We believe that God created us with a thought in mind, with a selfconscious intelligence, and with a great purpose, and that this world is not an
alien environment, but a friendly place in which human potential may be
developed to realize the high calling with which He calls us.
Carl Sagan, the cosmologist, the one who does such a fantastic job with the films
about the cosmos, and his book Cosmos, gives the other explanation. The other
explanation is that some inanimate, non-living cell was triggered by some ray of
light at some point, moved across the abyss from the inanimate to the animate
stage, continued from that point in the development of cellular structure to
increasing complexity to the present complexity of the human being. And where
the primeval pea soup came from in the beginning, where the cell that God
triggered came from in the beginning, how the ray of light ever activated it, about
all of that, nothing is said. But what is claimed is that whatever is, is the
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
consequence of accident, of chance, moving on with the kind of inbuilt necessity,
but going nowhere and having no accompanying purpose.
It's always good to look beyond the surface statement and say, "Then what does
that mean?" So to say that God created us is a rather simple affirmation of faith,
but it makes a world of difference as to how we view ourselves and understand
our situation. We affirm that God created us, and when we say He created us,
we're not talking about wind; we're not talking about techniques; we're not
talking about the process. The Bible doesn't know anything about when it
happened. It says, "In the beginning..." The Bible's affirmation is that all that is,
is because He said, "Let there be ...," and that's all the Bible is interested in. All
the rest the scientists can fight about.
In my class on Wednesday night, someone told me that the "Big Bang" theory of
the origin of the universe is being challenged. The Big Bang has been popular of
late in the circles of the physicists, and I could smile and say, "Oh, really? Well, I
hope the scientists have a field day fighting about it. I don't care." Now, if I had
said, "The Book of Genesis finally is verified," because a group of very scholarly
people has said that the universe started in a Big Bang, which therefore spoke of
an original moment of creation, then when the Big Bang blew up, my faith would
blow up, too. I can't identify this Book with any ideology, philosophical position
or scientific plank of any platform, because when I do, that which is transient and
of human generation will be an unsteady foundation for this word of God. This
word of God only says one thing. It says, "Whatever is, it is because He said, 'Let
there be...'" And then the whole world can try to figure out how it happened. I
mean, it doesn't really make any difference, does it? I told you last week that I
saw the jawbone of the Heidelberg man in the University of Heidelberg Museum
recently. Six hundred thousand years old, they say. It was discovered just outside
the city of Heidelberg, and up on the chart they had visualized what they thought
this creature had looked like. He stood up straight, with a little resemblance to
primates (big monkeys). Now, the Bible doesn't know anything about the linkage
backward from where we are. And there are some people who have been offended
by the claim that maybe we've got monkeys in our past. Well, I would say that just
an objective observation of human behaviour would give a great deal of support
to the idea that there might be a lot of monkeys in our past. "There's a lot of
monkey business going on!
But, you see, that's not even a biblical issue; it doesn't even matter. And yet, oh,
has not the Church churned over that issue? When did a human being become a
human being? Well, I'll tell you when. That's the second thing I want to say. It's
when the whatever was there was addressed by God and knew himself, knew
herself to be addressed and was able to respond in kind. It was in the moment in
which consciousness dawned and that created person, animal, whatever you want
to call it, suddenly understood itself, gained a beginning sense of identity and
self-awareness, self-reflection and the ability to respond to being addressed. The
first word of a first human being was a prayer. And when that creature learned to
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
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pray, that creature could be called human. For to be human is to be created in the
image of God, to be like God. And it doesn't really matter whether the human
being sprang fresh from the word or at some point in the process heard the word,
the creative word that called him or her forth. The fact is that when this creature
came face to face with God we could speak of being human.
In the image of God, our scripture tells us, is like God. God made us like Himself.
It's an amazing truth. Therefore, we accord to one another dignity and value and
worth, and we never put ourselves down either; for the most fundamental fact
about us is that we are a reflection of God. If I could pile up scripture upon
scripture this morning I could have also read Psalm 8, "Lord our God, how
excellent is Thy name in all the earth. When I consider the heavens, the work of
Thy hands, the sun and moon, which Thou hast made, what is man that Thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visited him?"
Ah, the Psalmist who didn't have an inkling about the expanses of the cosmos as
you and I do, nonetheless looked into the starry sky and knew that those stars
were a long way away, and he felt himself in the expansiveness of his world to be
insignificant and small. But then he had even a deeper intuition, for he went on to
say, "For Thou hast created him a little less than God and given him dominion."
Reflecting our chapter this morning, the most profound thing is that we are
created by God and made like Him to reflect Him.
My Professor Berkhof coins, at least in the English translation, the word
"respondable," in reference to the human being. Respondable. By that he is
meaning to say he is responsible to respond, or he might not, but he can.
Respondable. He has the capacity to respond. He has the capacity to respond to
the address of God and he is created for love and he is free in that condition of
respondability. So you're really something! I preached on that subject one time.
You are really something. You can never put yourself down. No matter how
tarnished and tainted and withered and wilted. No matter how great the failure,
how deep the abyss - you can never put yourself down. Nor may we ever put one
another down. For we've come from the hand of God, and we're a reflection of
His glory.
And He has created us for communion with Himself and with one another. To be
human is to be addressable, respondable, to be in covenant with God. If we
believe that He created us, then He created us with purpose, on purpose, with
meaning and, of course, He created us to be that over against Him with whom He
could commune and upon whom He could shed His love. And we'll have to speak
next week about the fact that we've not taken well to that, that we've not opened
ourselves up to that potential that is ours to live in the light of that love and grace.
But there's still good news, because there is one of us that has done precisely that
and that is Jesus.
Paul, obviously with reference to Genesis 1, in Philippians 2 tells us about Jesus.
Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, thought equality with God not to be
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
something grasped after, but rather emptied himself, indeed was made in fashion
as the human being and became a servant and humbled himself unto death, even
the death of the cross. And that passage has been the center of Christological
controversy over the centuries, but it's such a paradox because it is such a
practical, pastoral appeal to this congregation whom Paul dearly loved. He wrote,
If our common life in Christ yields anything to stir the heart, any loving
consolation, any sharing of the Spirit, any warmth of affection or
compassion, fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike
with the same love for one another, the same turn of mind and the
common care for unity.
There must be no room for rivalry and personal vanity among you, but you must
humbly reckon others better than yourselves. And then he appeals to Jesus. And
after saying all of this, after this warm appeal for warmth and the binding
together of human community, he said,
"Well, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
That's why he talks about Jesus and his relationship to God and his emptying and
his death. Not to give us some Christological discussion about the divine and
human in Jesus, but to say to the human congregation, "Will you be human and
will you allow community to flourish and blossom through lowliness in mind,
esteeming others better than yourselves, through warmth and affection and
compassion, in a word, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
The first Adam grasped after the prerogative of the Creator. The second Adam,
the new man, Jesus, offered himself up in total obedience and subservience to the
Father and became the instrument of reconciliation between God and human
beings, between human being and human being, and between human beings and
the whole created order, so that now in Christ we can say we are new creations,
restored in the image of God and if anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new creation.
There is harmony with nature and peace with God and reconciliation one with
another, human community, realizing the intentions of the Creator.
The creation story in the first chapter ends with the celebration of all of this in the
Sabbath rest. And the Sabbath rest is a sign pointing to the ultimate Sabbath rest
when the Shalom of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. How
important it is, then, that we begin now to incarnate, to live out this peace with
God through Jesus Christ and reconciliation with one another in harmony with
the created world. You are really something! We are called to become what we
are.
Let us pray. God, our Father, enable us to catch a glimpse of the wonder of being
human and then, through the power and grace of Your good Spirit, enable us to
live humanly and to provide in the community of faith an alternative society and
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
a sign pointing to that Kingdom which is surely coming when there shall be peace
on earth. Hear our prayer 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
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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
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>
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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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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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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
Peace Sunday
Pentecost XXI
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Phillipians 2:1-11
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/.
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KII-01_RA-0-19851020
Date
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1985-10-20
Title
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Human Community in the Image of God
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<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
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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 October 20, 1985 entitled "Human Community in the Image of God", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Peace Sunday, Pentecost XXI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Phillipians 2:1-11.
Community of Grace
Covenant
Creation
Divine Intention
Faith
Hebrew Scriptures
Image of God
Shalom
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/11e4dc63046b41538e21bda097817e40.mp3
4a7a8497062c1d8ccc57a4871a2e9b07
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e8a5cd241bd90d334a598b7545b7375.pdf
6a9f387bd68757a2d5af6de13786bcd0
PDF Text
Text
Light of the World
Text: II Corinthians 4:6
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Epiphany I, January 10, 1993
Transcription of the spoken sermon
For it is God…who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 4:6
We have come to celebrate the fact that light has come into the world, and to
wonder at the mystery of that light, which for some becomes the light of the
revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and for others seems to
be not light at all. This is the season in which we point to our reality that light has
come into the world, that God has been revealed, that God has been unveiled,
that God has made God’s self accessible and available, and comprehendible and
apprehendible to the likes of us. And yet it is also the season in which we wonder
about the mystery of why it is that some believe and others believe not at all – or,
to wonder even further, why it is that we, who are exposed all our life to this
mystery, if we are honest must say that we have never fully sensed the dawning of
the light. For you see, in this celebration in this season of the year we recognize a
double act. On the one hand light has come into the world, but on the other hand
the critical personal question is, “Has the light dawned upon me? Have I seen the
light?” There is always that double edge. It is one thing to celebrate that the light
is here, and it is another thing to wonder at the mystery of the dawning of that
light on our deepest selves. It is not enough simply to affirm that the light has
come; it is essential finally that I can say, “I have seen the light.”
The Apostle Paul tells the story of Epiphany in his own way, out of his own
experience. Had I read a Gospel lesson this morning, I think I would have read
the first chapter of John, the prologue to John’s Gospel. The prologue to John’s
Gospel might well be called the Christmas Epiphany passage, because in that
passage John calls our attention or makes a connection between creation and the
coming of the light in Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by him and
apart from him was not anything made that was made.” That light was coming
into the world, and John affirms in the fifth verse of that first chapter, that that
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it. So John
connects the coming of light with the creation story.
© Grand Valley State University
�Light of the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
In Time Magazine last week, on the 28th of December, the cover asked the
question, “What Can Science Tell Us About God?” The cover story dealt with that
question from the aspect of the physicist who probes deep cosmological secrets.
It’s an interesting article. It’s the kind of thing that Time usually does at the end
of the year, maybe at Christmas and Easter, tipping their hat to the spiritual
realities of the world. But, in that article, it recounts the fact that centuries ago
there was an Islamic scholar who spoke about the fact that the darkness would
have been just preceding the brilliance of light, and that all of reality would have
been contained in a mere speck prior to the creation.
In the New York Times this past week there was an article about some further
confirmation of the “big bang” theory, that all of reality - the whole cosmos, the
whole vast expanse of the cosmos – was at one time just a knot of energy tightly
compacted, and that the “big bang” was the explosion, that nuclear-type
explosion that created the cosmic reality that continues to this day to be
expanding. There was some further verification for that theory, which I have to
admit, goes over my head. But at the end of it all, the authors of the article say
that agnosticism is still a pretty good scientific position to take, but atheism may
not be as valid as once it might have been. One hundred years ago with the
onrush of the natural sciences, it seemed as though God was just going to be
moved off the map, or off the globe. But after a hundred years of intense scientific
inquiry, there are some very profound scientists today who would say, “You
know, there is a curtain there and if you haven’t been able to look behind the
curtain, then it’s rather presumptuous to say that no one is home.”
Well, the creation in this description is so complex; it is such a mystery that it
challenges the best minds and causes them to stand in awe of the complexity of
life from its molecular structure to its very complex arrangements. The creator
hasn’t really been ruled “out of court” yet in terms of the best of science that’s out
there. The creation of light. There is even an article in the New York Times this
week about the discovery of a huge invisible mass that they have been looking for,
a mass that would indicate - which would give some confirmation to – the theory
of the “big bang” as the way it all began. One scientist read the read-out from a
computer and said, “Well, if you are a religious type you might say you are
looking at God.”
How did it happen? Who knows? But, if there is something to that “big bang”
theory, then, with the coming into being of all of this cosmic matter, there would
have also been the explosion of light. We know now from our probe into outer
space that it is cold and dark there but, in that moment of creation, poetically the
Genesis writer says, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”
There must have been light, blinding light, if that “big bang” has any credibility
about it. And that light, the light at the beginning of the natural world, is for John
and for Paul, an analogy of that Light that explodes within the mind and heart of
the human person who comes to see the brightness of God in the face of Jesus
© Grand Valley State University
�Light of the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Christ. That is what Epiphany is all about. It is the celebration, the dancing before
the Light that has come into the world. The good news is that the Light has come
into the world. Just as surely as the natural light was indicated when God said,
“Let there be light,” just so surely in the face of Jesus Christ – so says John, so
says Paul, so did they witness and testify – there is now light to enlighten our
human experience, our human lives. Light in the natural realm, but also light in
the personal realm through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Paul says, “To look into the face of Jesus is to look into the heart of God.” I like
that passage. I think it says it beautifully, brilliantly: that in the contours of the
life and ministry of Jesus we see into the depths of the nature of God. And when
Paul speaks about this light, he is, of course, telling his own story.
We read that story in the book of Acts. Paul, a Jew, serious and devout,
committed to the way of Israel, cognizant of the threat that was placed before
temple and law in the ministry of Jesus, set about to exterminate the Followers of
the Way. He tells us that it was about noonday, somewhere on the way to
Damascus, that he had a vision - saw a bright light - was thrown to the ground,
blinded. For Paul it was that dramatic and that vivid. For Paul indeed it was like
that initial atomic explosion at the creation. It was a blinding flash, and he was
blinded and, led on into the city, he prayed, and finally one was sent to him and
we read it was as though the scales fell off his eyes. That’s the way it is. The
blinding flash of physical light that blinds one is analogous to the blinding flash
of insight into the truth. Paul’s experience was that out of which he spoke and out
of which he ministered for the rest of his life. The light had dawned upon him, for
you see there is a double aspect that we must reckon with in Epiphany. On the
one hand, the light shines and Jesus is the light of the world, and the light shines
in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. But the other side of the
coin, the completion of the circle, only comes when one says, “I have seen the
light.” Paul could say the Light has come, and I was blinded by the light, the light
shining in the world, and suddenly I saw the Light.
It is interesting when you think about that, because it wasn’t as though he was
some pagan, a reckless, careless, unspiritual individual, of which the world is full,
of course. That wasn’t the case with Paul. It wasn’t the case with Paul that he was
following some false God. He was following the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, the God of covenant grace, the God of David and Moses. He was the son of
Israel. But suddenly the Light struck him and everything changed. His world got
turned upside down and redirected. Strange how that happens isn’t it? In the
context of the passage in Corinthians, he is defending his ministry. He often falls
under attack, and has to give an account of himself. He is doing that in this letter,
and, in the course of saying, “I have carried on an authentic ministry, an honest
ministry. I set forth the truth before the common conscience of my fellow men
and before the face of God,” he hears the objectors say, “But not all believe.” And
that is a mystery isn’t it? It is a mystery that you could be sitting here this
© Grand Valley State University
�Light of the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
morning and the one next to you believing fervently and you in all honesty having
more questions than certainties.
Paul tries to explain that. I am not very satisfied with his explanation. He says,
“Well, to be sure not everybody believes, but if one doesn’t believe it is because
they are blinded by the god of this world.” Well, I don’t know, Paul. From a
preacher’s point of view, that gets me off the hook a bit. In other words, if I make
sense to you and the Light dawns, it’s because there is a connection here, but if
nothing happens then the failure must be that Satan has blinded your heart, your
mind. That whole conception of the universe peopled with spirits of darkness is a
little strange, frankly. I don’t think of my world that way, do you? Maybe I’m
naive, but I am not as ready as Paul was simply to explain the one that believes as
opposed to the one who doesn’t believe in terms of devils going about blinding
people.
Our Reformation forbearers tried to explain the phenomena of belief and unbelief
in terms of God’s predestinating, electing grace. That ought to send chills up and
down your spine. I don’t believe that either. Thank God. Double predestination:
the fact that somehow, in the mystery of God’s counsel, you are chosen, you are
damned. Poof! You know our forefathers and foremothers believed that? That
you didn’t really have a chance. If you were elected you had had it. And if you
weren’t, you had really had it. That was, frankly, a theological scheme by which to
explain why one believes and one doesn’t.
How would you explain it? Here two people sit. One believes. One doesn’t. They
hear the same stuff. They eat the same meals. They watch the same television.
They go out into the same world. One has faith. One doesn’t. How would you
explain it? Because you see, it is one thing to say that the Light has come into the
world. That is our Christmas gospel; that is what we celebrate. The Light shines
in the darkness, but have I seen the Light? Well, I like to think that maybe it’s not
so much explained by little spirits of darkness pulling curtains over hearts, and I
certainly don’t think that somewhere in eternity God decided to choose you and
leave me out.
I think it has a lot to do with our human experience, don’t you? Some people in
the midst of their human experience are so broken and scarred that it seems
almost impossible for them ever to trust. Some people never having been loved
find it impossible to love. Some people never having experienced the embrace of
forgiveness find it impossible to forgive. Some faith has been shattered on the
shoals of human suffering. Some faith has been ignited in the midst of suffering.
Suffering doesn’t necessarily turn you one way or the other, but it can still turn
you. I could give you instances of those who suffered deeply and came out with
strong faith. The Psalmist said in retrospect, “It was good for me that I was
afflicted.” But I could show you other people who suffered deeply, who are cynical
and full of despair, and for whom the ongoing religious life is hollow and empty.
Human experience has a lot to do with it.
© Grand Valley State University
�Light of the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
I like the way we are nurturing our children at Christ Community. In this season
of the year they are being taught to cultivate “Epiphany Eyes.” Because it is not
only Epiphany, the manifestation, the revelation, the turning on of the light, but
it is the eyes to see and behold. It is to create within us that expectation that we
will be apprehended by the Light and we will have the Light dawn upon us, that
we will see the Light. The cultivation of an expectation creates within us a
readiness and an openness for it. I think it is good also to remember as we
wonder about these things - why one believes and why one doesn’t, or why there
was one time when your experience was warm and enriching and now it seems
rather distant and cold - that the Light shines and Epiphany happens not simply
once. There may for some be the dramatic turn-around of an Apostle Paul, but for
most of us, here and there, a ray breaks through in a deeply moving experience,
times when suddenly we feel, as Wesley expressed it, “How our hearts strangely
warmed.”
Oh, it’s a mystery. I wish I knew how to throw the switch. I wish I knew how to
trigger it for you. I can do no more than Paul advised. Giving up all kinds of
manipulation and any distortion of the word of God, simply commending the
truth before the common conscience. Before the common conscience of
humankind and before the face of God, to set forth this story that the Light has
come into the world - that in the face of Jesus we see into the nature of God and
that can be trusted. And some Sundays you walk out of here and say, “That really
got through to me.” And some Sundays you walk out and say, “Could have better
gone to brunch.” And sometimes it’s me. But, as often, it’s you. What you bring.
What you anticipate. What you are looking for, and what you need.
Oh, I wish I could take all of you on occasion and shake you, take you by the nape
of the neck and say, “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you questing? Where
are you? What are you doing? Where are you going? Are you doing more than
just going through motions? Is your faith, your devotion, more than just hollow
ceremony and empty form? Is there some passion? Have you been touched? Has
the fire burned brightly lately?
The Light has come. The Light has come. The Light shines in the world. Jesus
said, “I am the Light of the world.” And in the face we see to the heart of God. But
the face of Jesus isn’t available for you. Where finally then in your human
experience will you find the Light shining? Well, I suppose, to drag out an old
saw: If I can’t see it in Jesus’ face any more, then you are the only face I have in
which can be mirrored the face of Jesus, that is a mirror of the heart of God. It’s a
Mystery all right! And we do make a mystery of it I suppose. We carry on our
theological discussions and we split our doctrinal hairs. I suppose, finally when I
look into your face and know I am accepted, finally when I feel your arms around
me and know I am loved, finally when I look into your eyes and know I am
forgiven, finally when you touch me, the Word becomes flesh, and then it is not
the objective reality alone that Jesus is the Light of the world. Then it is that Light
that floods my soul. It is in the encounter one with the other that Epiphany
© Grand Valley State University
�Light of the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
happens today in the ongoing community of those who stem back to the Word
made flesh, the Word who was the explosion of Light revealing the One who in
the beginning called forth an explosion full of light.
The Light has dawned upon us. Thank God.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Epiphany I
Scripture Text
II Corinthians 4:6
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-0-19930110
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-01-10
Title
A name given to the resource
Light of the World
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
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 January 10, 1993 entitled "Light of the World", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 4:6.
Creation
Divine Mystery
Face of Jesus
Insight
Light
Nature of God
Transformation
-
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0de8f44af70f1f599749585a5301089e
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/993a0284743ca0a1602d753c2b69aca6.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Observing Sabbath: Celebrating Grace and Freedom
From the series: The Sacramental Character of the Church
Text: Deuteronomy 5:15; Colossians 2:20
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost VI, July 19, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Remember that you were a slave ... and the Lord your God brought you out ...
Deuteronomy 5:15
If with Christ you died ... why do you live as if you still belonged to the world?
Colossians 2:20
The call to Israel to observe the Sabbath is contained within what we call the Ten
Commandments: the Law. Sometimes the first five books of the Old Testament
are called the Law. But that translation, “Law,” is really inaccurate in terms of
conveying how Israel received that teaching. Torah was the word. The first five
books were the Torah. Torah means “a way of life,” and Israel received that word
as a gracious gift of God, an invitation to fullness of life, a way in which life could
be lived most richly, and human potential realized most fully. But because the call
to observe Sabbath is in what we call the Ten Commandments, the Law, there has
always been that tendency among us to legalize that command as though it had a
kind of compelling compulsion about it that forced us into a ritual of servants and
we often failed, I think, to sense the gracious gift that was the Sabbath.
The original Ten Commandments, is in the book of Exodus, the 20th chapter.
There, as we noted last week, Israel was called to observe Sabbath in order to
recall week by week the creative act of God, in order to be reminded one day in
seven, in order to have their being permeated with the realization that the whole
world was alive with the life of God, to understand that the whole reality was to
be viewed as a sacrament, as a source of knowledge and a cause for worship, that
the world, what we call nature, the cosmic expanse, was to be received as a means
of grace.
It is only in the last couple of hundred years, in the wake of the Enlightenment,
that we have spoken about nature as something over against us and as a kind of
self-contained reality that could exist on its own. The breakthroughs in scientific
understanding and technological advance have tended to reduce nature to a
realm out there, as though it had independent status and was a self-contained
© Grand Valley State University
�Observing Sabbath; Celebrating Grace Richard A. Rhem
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existence. How many hours haven’t we argued fruitlessly about whether or not
there is such a thing as a miracle? Have you ever been in a heated discussion
about whether or not “prayer changes things?” I think that those very questions
are the wrong questions. They propose a model in which there is the whole realm
of nature, with God out there somewhere, having to break in. We speak of
intervention, breaking in, as though all of this kind of exists on its own and now
and then, on occasion, here and there, God drops in but, if God would be
involved, would impact, would influence, God must come as permeating, as
breathing in, as the life of the cosmos being the consequence of the breath of God.
“You breathe and give them life,” said the psalmist.
The last couple of hundred years in modern culture we have lost that sense of the
world as Sacramental. Israel was called to pause at the end of every week, to stop,
to look, to listen and to delight in creation as the gracious work of the good and
gracious God; to rest, to let go, to cease their ceaseless striving and struggle, their
desire to control and to manipulate; to give them a sense that they were not after
all indispensable for the sustaining of all things. God is quite able to keep the
planet in motion and the stars in the sky. God is beyond us; God is in us, with us
and in all things so that all things must become a Sacrament that points us to
God. To stop on Sabbath and smell the roses and luxuriate in the prodigal
goodness of God who made the world, whose intention is for us to live in the
world as if it were a Garden of Eden, a place of delight - that is the call of Sabbath.
In a wonderful essay entitled “On Common Prayer,” Catherine Madsen makes the
point that there is a holiness there - there! It is a given. She makes the point that
holiness, that otherness, is in us intimately, permeating every atom of our body.
God can’t abandon us. God is with us, in us, permeating the whole of reality,
holding all things together. And then she goes on to make this wonderful
connection to that sense of God that haunts us whether we name God or not. That
presence of God that permeates us whether we are conscious or not is that which
gives rise to unrest and the dream of redemption.
She writes that “there is something that loves you in the world. ...there is
something that loves you in the world.” A voice that speaks to you within, in the
worst despair, is not different than the voice that called the world into being.
What makes your body give off heat? It is the same fire that sleeps in the rocks
and is changed from light into matter by the plants. The fire that lights the sun
and the other stars. Holiness is there and there is “something out there in the
world that loves you,” and the world is a means of grace if we would pause to take
it in, to give heed, to pay attention with a kind of regular, rhythmic discipline.
Observance of the Sabbath – resting, pausing long enough to dream another
dream, and to allow our imagination to connect us with that which is not simply
beyond us but is woven into the very fabric of our being.
But that raises a question for us. There is something that loves you out there in
the world - how would one name that love? God created the heavens and the
© Grand Valley State University
�Observing Sabbath; Celebrating Grace Richard A. Rhem
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earth, and so nature is not some independent existence but is in-breathed by the
breath of God. But God is not only the God of our space, but the God of our time.
Israel was called to observe Sabbath in Exodus 20 to be reminded of the spatial
dimension of its home in God. But in the second giving of the Law, in the book of
Deuteronomy in the 5th chapter, the verses we read a moment ago, Israel is
called to observe Sabbath - not to remember creation, but to remember its
liberation from Egyptian slavery. There God calls Israel to remember the
Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath in order to be reminded one day in seven that
they were slaves one time and God set them free. The God of creation is the God
of covenant faithfulness. The God of creation is the God of redemption. The
something that loves you out there in the world – that which is intrinsic in the
very fabric of reality – has a name and a face. It is a God who is for us, who would
always liberate and set us free, the God who is gracious and who is on the side of
God’s people.
And so Israel was called every seventh day to stop, to rest and to worship. And in
that pause, in that oasis at the end of the week, to have its perspective shaped
once again. To know that it lives in the environment, the spatial expanse brought
forth by the Word of God, and that it lived as a people graced by the God that
would set all humankind free.
The God of Creation. The God of Redemption. And we can see how Israel
annually in its Passover Feast celebrated that release from bondage, from the
slavery in Egypt – but not only annually in the Passover Feast, but every Sabbath.
Every week in the rhythm of labor and liturgy, in the rhythm of work and worship
it was called to remember and to hope. God is not only the God of creation, but
the God of history, the God of our time. So Israel was called always to remember
that the God of its past would be the God of its future, and Israel was the one who
gave to the world a whole sense of history - of movement.
The ancient Eastern cultures lived in the eternal cycle of the coming and return.
Israel gave to the world the idea of a beginning, and an end, and a meantime, and
in its festival celebrations, it remembered and it hoped. It had already received
and it had a promise of more to come, and it lived always in that remembering
and hoping. Christian worship is patterned obviously on that as well, for we are a
people who come together weekly. We celebrate one great central event, when
God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. We celebrate on the first day of the week
because on the first day of the week God raised Jesus from the dead. We call the
first day of the week the Lord’s Day. And we come together, not only on Easter
Sunday to celebrate the Resurrection, but we come together Sunday by Sunday by
Sunday, because every Sunday is a little Easter. Even the Sundays in the season of
Lent are not Lenten days, they are Sundays in Lent, because in the inside of the
church it was recognized that, after Easter, you cannot keep Lent on Sunday.
You know I see how difficult it is for churches to make changes, but twenty years
ago we changed our name to Christ Community Church. For twenty years pastors
© Grand Valley State University
�Observing Sabbath; Celebrating Grace Richard A. Rhem
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have contacted me to ask, “How in the world did you do that? We had a “Name
the Church contest and everybody got offended and we lost the whole thing.” I
don’t know how we did it, but we did. But most of the time churches can’t do
anything. Most of the time you can’t change anything in the church because it is
all absolutized and made sacred as though it is God’s way once it’s done. And it
seems the greatest blasphemy to violate the principle “we have always done it
that way.”
I would have liked to have been there in the early church when they moved the
Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Can you imagine the discussions around the
table as they were breaking bread and pouring the cup? For centuries, for
generations, it’s in the Bible, the seventh day.
When I was a kid there was an old man in the north end of Kalamazoo who had a
stake truck with big sides. It looked like that house over on Jackson in Grand
Haven, where it’s written all over you know - verses, and you can read the news
by going by the house. (Laughter) This truck was plastered with writing. I
remember as a little kid that he offered so much money to the person that could
prove that the church should move from the seventh day to the first day of
worship. I always wanted to take up that challenge, but the prize wasn’t enough
to validate the work. But I will never forget that, and I wondered about that as a
kid. But now I wonder about how they were ever able to do it. Can you imagine?
Moving from Saturday to Sunday? And, obviously in doing that, they were
moving to the first day of the week as the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead because they knew now that the center of their life was in
Christ. “Your life is hid with Christ in God, if then you will be raised with Christ.”
Their whole life was in Christ. The whole ball game was the new life, the new
creation in Jesus Christ.
And so they moved from that Sabbath observance to the observance of Sabbath
on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, Little Easter, in order, week by week,
by week, to remember. It wasn’t enough once in the springtime to come together
in a great press of people in the resurrection. Once every week, the first day of the
week. Every time we gather here it is because God raised Christ from the dead.
And because he lives, you too live! Every week we come here in order to have
confirmed again in the depths of our being “that there is someone out there that
loves us,” that the God that we serve is the God of grace and liberation and
freedom, who would break the shackles of every form of human bondage and
servitude. The God whom we worship is a God for us, the God who brings us joy
and springs forth from us - doxology and praise and hallelujah.
The whole worship of the Church is celebration of Easter, and that was so
overwhelming that they were able to break with that deeply imbedded tradition.
Something written in the Word of God to observe the seventh day - moved to the
first day, which shows that they were liberated. They were freed from religion.
© Grand Valley State University
�Observing Sabbath; Celebrating Grace Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Oh, to be free from religion. Religion binds and cripples. Jesus was so angry at
the religious leaders who piled legalism upon legalism, regulation upon
regulation. He said, “You make these people seven times more the children of hell
than when you began with them.” Paul writes after the resurrection and after
Easter to those who were disturbing the Easter at Colossi. And he said to the
believers, “Don’t let anybody upset you and deceive you with philosophies about
don’t handle and don’t touch, and don’t taste. Don’t let anybody lay on you some
kind of ironclad rule that says you’ve got to do this on Sunday or Saturday or on
Monday or Tuesday. Are you not free? Have you not died with Christ and been
raised again? If then you be with Christ, set your mind on the things that are
above, while your life is hid in Christ with God. You are free by God’s grace, and
don’t forget it.” The only way not to forget it is to observe Sabbath, to pause in the
regular rhythm of one’s life. Instead of six and one it becomes one and six. And it
is the same principle. It is that we might never doubt that there is a great,
gracious life force permeating into the whole of reality and every molecule and
atom of our body that could never abandon us.
“Something out there loves you in the world,” and that love has a name and a
face, and it has appeared in our midst as Jesus Christ our Lord, who was raised
from the dead.
As I was thinking about this I realized how important it is. I confessed to you last
week and said that being raised as a kid amid the heavy legalism of Sabbath
observance, I was tempted to kick the habit. Going into this profession that was
difficult, but I did everything possible to convince myself that I wasn’t really still
bound in that kind of legalism. Then I began to see that the observance of
Sabbath was such a great gift and grace, and that the only way that the people of
God have continued through the generations is that they have been a people who
have never forgotten because they have always been called to remember.
And unless there is a discipline and a routine and a rhythm in our lives, we will
soon forget. It is easy to forget. God will not cease loving you, but you will cease
being conscious of it. And what is it to be loved and not be conscious of it. And so
we are called to take heed, to pay attention. So I grumble a bit about ugly
Sundays, but as a kid I did know that there was a special day, and as a kid I did
know who I was and to whom I belonged.
The only problem is, I think in the western tradition of the Christian church, we
somehow or other got our focus off Resurrection and Easter, and moved it to the
cross and Good Friday and our sin and our guilt. You say, “Well isn’t that what
the Bible says?” No. Not the only thing the Bible says. You say, “Well isn’t that
Christian?” No. It’s western, medieval, Catholic Christianity that permeates our
Reformed Protestantism as well. The focus of the Western Church – Roman,
medieval, filtering into Reformation, Protestant – has its center in the cross. Its
fascination is with sin and guilt as the major problem, and the atonement.
© Grand Valley State University
�Observing Sabbath; Celebrating Grace Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
Now if you were raised in the Eastern Orthodox Church in Istanbul, if you were a
child of the Eastern Rite, you wouldn’t know all about that cross and heavy sin
and guilt, and strong emphasis on atonement. You would come into this church
and it would be foggy. You could hardly see me - and that might be a means of
grace. (Laughter) But the reason that you wouldn’t be able to see me clearly is
because there would be these clouds of incense. If you went to San Sofia in
Istanbul in this marvelous, marvelous place you would see an old mosaic of the
victorious Pentocrater, the triumphant Christ. And from the altar there would be
billows of smoke going heavenward and there would be priests everywhere in all
kinds of flowing garb. There would be all of the warmth and sensuousness of that
which is human, poised and praising in Doxology the Creator who had raised
Jesus from the dead.
A totally different feel. A different focus. A different center. Which is right? Well,
you need a little of both. But I would have to vote with the Eastern Rite because and this is my basis for saying that – in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with its
focus on Easter, on Resurrection, on a risen Christ and Doxology as worship and
praise, you still experience the original intention of moving off Saturday to
Sunday, rather than moving off Saturday to Good Friday. Now I have never read
that anywhere and I can’t swear it is true, but I wonder. Isn’t that interesting? In
the instance of the infant Christian community, they did not make their sacred
day Friday, they made it Sunday because the central thing is not sin and our guilt
and the cross, it is the life-giving gracious God who raises Jesus from the dead
and permeates us with life, who promised “because I live, you too shall live.” So
Sunday is a celebration. It is a day for Doxology. It is a day for incense. It is a day
for pulling out all the stops. For dancing and singing. (From the congregation “Amen.”) All right - I have been waiting twenty-five years for that. (Laughter and
applause.) I’ll bet you I am right. I bet I’m right. And I’ll bet you church going
wouldn’t be just a heavy obligation, a legalistic demand, if it were such that one
came just one day in seven into this place and was lost in wonder, love and grace
and praise, knowing that the whole world is resplendent and shot through with
God’s life, that the something out there that loves one is the Creator and the
Liberator, the God revealed in the face of Jesus. Then Sabbath observance would
become the gift and the joy that I suspect that God always intended it to be.
Paul said, “Don’t let anybody lay a lot of legalistic clap-trap on you, but don’t
forget to remember.” As I said, I grumble a bit about all those ugly Sundays. They
nearly killed me as a kid. But I’ll tell you what, parents and grandparents. You
bring your kids here regularly Sunday after Sunday, bring them to the Eucharist
Sunday after Sunday, kneel with them. Let them hear you sing and watch you
pray, and they’ll be as hopelessly addicted as I am. The center of Christian
worship is Doxology, and the central act is Eucharist, which is a Greek word for
thanksgiving. And on Easter this past year I celebrated the bread and the wine as
Eucharist for the first time in my life - I took Holy Communion on Easter and
suddenly understood its true heart: the presence of the risen, living Lord. That that’s worship. That’s good, huh? I like it.
© 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
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Rhem, Richard A.
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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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1981-2014
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Event
Pentecost VI
Series
The Sacramental Character of the Church
Scripture Text
Deuteronomy 5:15, Colossians 2:20
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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1992-07-19
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Observing Sabbath, Celebrating Grace and Freedom
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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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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 19, 1992 entitled "Observing Sabbath, Celebrating Grace and Freedom", as part of the series "The Sacramental Character of the Church", on the occasion of Pentecost VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Deuteronomy 5:15, Colossians 2:20.
Creation
Easter
Immanence
Love
Sabbath
Sacrament
Worship
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a4d08ed47709b920422d603b42a49b2a.mp3
97e2fe9c0ad4ae9393a5c97361b5432d
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ed46a79024a8494fad683cd667526f25.pdf
830f890b2c7f8b0d2fd0c46e451c8958
PDF Text
Text
The Word: A Means of Grace; Story as Sacrament
From the series: The Sacramental Character of the Church
Text: Isaiah 55:11; Acts 10:44
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost IV, July 5, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth, it shall not return to me empty, but
it will accomplish that which I purpose... Isaiah 55:11
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.
Acts 10:44
If you have any important summer events for which the weather is important,
don’t talk to me. This is a day of the Rhem Reunion - thundershowers predicted
at noon - just when the grill is getting really hot. (Laughter) But, it’s a pleasure to
have so many of my family here: aunts, sisters, brothers-in law, nieces and
nephews, and the lower generation. Nancy and I are especially grateful this
morning that we have six kids in church. Pretty good, huh? Good introduction for
a sermon on population control, of course. But we didn’t know what the other
was doing for a long time - I mean, before we met. (Laughter) I had better get to
preaching.
As a matter of fact the sermon does have something to do with population
control. Population control is really only one dimension, but the planet earth is in
trouble. There is a crisis in the world, a crisis in the universe. And it is being
recognized on many fronts. Last month there was a world-class summit, the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro where the leaders of the nations gathered to
discuss the whole situation of the environment, of the state of the planet. The
United Nations sponsored the conference on the environment and development
but that’s where the rub is. The resources of the earth are being used up and
consumed at a greater rate than the earth in its own natural cycle can replenish
itself. The human race has done great damage to ecology from time immemorial,
but it was rather localized and the population was not that great. But today, for
the first time, population being what it is and technology being what it is, we are
as a matter of fact outstripping the resources of the earth. There is a crisis on
planet Earth and it is serious, and it is a matter of universal human concern, and
it is a matter of concern to biblical Christians, to biblical people.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Word, a Means of Grace…
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Now sometimes issues like this tend to become trendy and band wagon issues,
and there are those nuts on the lunatic fringe that tend to turn us off and to
offend us. Apart from them, of course, our attention would not be grasped. But
sometimes they also enable us to write the issue off and to say, “Well, that’s just a
matter of a few nuts, and it doesn’t really concern us.”
Well, I want to say this morning that it does really concern us, and the situation is
serious. The conference was held in Rio de Janeiro last month, but last year in
Cambera, Australia at an assembly of the World Council of Churches there was a
major focus on justice and peace, and the integrity of creation. The integrity of
creation has become one of those catch words in our day as the Church has come
to recognize the serious dimensions of the environmental crisis. Justice and
peace, and the integrity of creation are major foci of the Church’s thinking and
reflection today, and well they should be. I suppose that there are some of you
here who really get turned off with all of the claptrap about the environment as
though it were a non-issue. You would probably like to spit at a spotted owl, or
what was that silly fish that held up the building of the dam in Tennessee? Maybe
it is still held up, I don’t know. Satire can make a laughing matter of such
environmental concerns. However, we cannot simply sidestep this issue.
I felt that our own president lost an opportunity for world leadership in Rio at
that conference. I heard his rationale for our foot-dragging. He said, “After all,
the United States has done more than any other nation on these issues.” True. He
said, “The United States has spent more billions of dollars than any other nation
on these issues.” True. And he said, “We don’t have a lot of money for these
issues.” True, I suppose.
But, let’s be honest folks. This perspective was given to me by my friend Ernie
Campbell, who is a fellow pastor and writes some notes quarterly, who said, “You
know it is rather difficult to make an impact on the world when you are the
powerful and the affluent of the world.” For example, he says, it is a shame that
the rain forests in the Amazon basin are being decimated. But how impressive is
it when we sent our lecture down to the Amazon basis from our four, five and six
bedroom houses with three, four and six bathrooms all nicely sided with cedar
shakes? And how much will we be believed as we lecture the world on the virtues
of riding a bicycle as we step out of our Mercedes or Chevrolets, as the case may
be? And, will we really be heard when we suggest to the peoples of the world that
it is necessary to conserve energy when we sit here in air conditioned comfort in
the coolest church in town? (Laughter) You see it is awfully easy to be self
righteous. As Ernie Campbell said, “It reminds me of the time when I was a kid
and we used to play King on a Hill,” and he said, “when I got to the top after
clawing my way up I wanted to say ‘Stop the game. Freeze the position. Now that
we are at the top, let’s everybody act responsibly.’”
I hope there will be some technological breakthrough, some way in which we will
expand the resources of the earth beyond our fondest dream. And that’s really
© Grand Valley State University
�The Word, a Means of Grace…
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
what has been the story of human development. They were up there in space long
enough recently to maybe have brought back a crop of tomatoes. Who knows
what potential there is in the cosmos for the meeting of human needs to make life
sustainable on the planet? But in the meantime, the crisis is there. It is our
responsibility and it is up to us either to pay the tab or to wind down our
consumption and simplify our lives. It simply won’t wash to lecture the Third
World on environmental preservation and conservation while we go blithely on
our way, the greatest consumers that the world has ever known.
But you know, the issue is greater than a matter of human survival. The real issue
is that we have not valued and cared for God’s good creation. God created the
heavens and the earth, and God looked it all over and God said, “It’s very good.”
And God rested on the seventh day and luxuriated in the wonder of the worlds to
which he had given birth. Creation is God’s and we are called to value it, and to
bless it, and to bless the Creator in the blessing of creation. It is not ours.
It is really a relatively recent thing that the human race has raped the earth and
treated it as an object at our disposal. You can trace it back to the 18th century, to
the Enlightenment. The same kind of philosophical thinking and experimentation
that has led to such fruitfulness in the natural sciences has also led us to view the
whole planet and the cosmic reality as that over against which we can have
dominion, and we can manipulate, and we can use and abuse, that we can exploit
for our own purposes. It is almost as though we have in mind that the earth and
the plants, and the animals, and the sky and the sea exist for us, for the
satisfaction of our wants and our desires, for our pleasure. We have failed to see
our connectedness with all that is alive. We have failed to see ourselves in the
continuum of creative reality and through the Industrial Revolution, in our
consumer society, we have raped the earth; we have abused creation; we are
outstripping the resources presently available to us. And it is high time that we
question the whole modern approach to the world that has made it a “thing” to be
used. It is high time that we get off our highhorse, anthropocentrically looking at
reality as though it is there for us and failing to see ourselves as a part of the
linkage of life.
We have to get back to a biblical understanding of things. God created the
heavens and the earth, and God blessed creation. Maybe you say to me, “But
doesn’t it say in Genesis 1, at the end of the chapter, that God said, “Be fruitful
and multiply and have dominion over creation?” It does. And there may have
been a day when that was God’s word, but that word dominion dare not be used
today because that word dominion, which could mean to rule as a servant, has
come to mean to dominate and to have dominion over, and to exploit. The
dominion model won’t work today. Most who look at these things and who study
these things biblically have moved to a stewardship model. God has made us
stewards of the earth. We are the trustees of creation. We are called to preserve,
to conserve, to care for the created order.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Word, a Means of Grace…
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
But there are some who are saying we need to go even farther than that, that
stewardship, although it calls to mind human dignity and the agency of the
human person in the whole creation of things and their operation and accords a
certain dignity to the human person created in the image of the person of God;
nonetheless, stewardship in our day, in the light of the crisis, even gives us still
too much of that over-againstness. It is being suggested by some today – and it
comes out of a rich, ancient Christian church heritage in the Eastern tradition – it
is being suggested today that we think in terms, not of dominion, not even of
stewardship, but of a sacramental model. That we begin to see creation as that
stuff of reality that becomes for us alive with God, that creation becomes the
material tangibly that conveys to us the knowledge of God and the grace of God,
that we see the whole of creation as alive with the life of God.
So that, just as bread and cup and water have become vehicles of grace, tangible
material things, outward signs of inward and spiritual reality, so we begin to look
at our world that way. A sacramental model of reality would see the world as a
pointer to the Creator and all of creation, drawing forth from us praise and
doxology. That we develop “Epiphany Eyes” in order to see through created
reality and to recognize as the Psalmist said, “That all life is alive with the breath
of God.” Apart from the breath of God there is no life. “You breathe and give them
life,” he says. And so the whole created order needs to be recognized more and
more as alive with divinity.
I love to sit on the bluff and listen to the surf. When it is a gentle surf, the
constant lapping of the waves in rhythmic regularity reminds me of a cosmic
breathing. Breathing in and breathing out. Breath, spirit, the cosmos pulsating
with the life that is the life of God and, therefore, the whole of created reality, a
pointer to the creator, drawing forth worship and praise. How will we ever be able
to develop such a sense? Is it not by observing Sabbath? Is it not by heeding the
biblical word, the call to observe Sabbath in the Old Testament where the law,
(and incidentally we speak of the Ten Commandments or the Law, but the better
word is the Torah, which meant to the Hebrew a way of life), the way of life in
Exodus 20, and the way of life in Deuteronomy 5 both called Israel, both call us,
to observe Sabbath. But in the case of Deuteronomy it was to observe Sabbath to
remember the redemption from Egypt. In Exodus 20 the call to remember
Sabbath is to remember creation, for the writer says, “Six days God created and
rested on the seventh day.” Israel was called in that rhythm of worship and work:
life and liturgy - to remember in ever reoccurring cycles that all of reality was a
gift of God through the observance of Sabbath. Sabbath means rest, and that to
which God called God’s people was to cease, to stop, to look, to listen. That to
which God called God’s people was simply to let go, to take one’s hands off the
controls. Simply to be.
Now when I get home, I am glad that I will be surrounded by about fifty strong
family, otherwise Nancy would take me aside and lecture me severely and say,
“Preacher, heal yourself.” Being a Dutch Calvinist who grew up believing that
© Grand Valley State University
�The Word, a Means of Grace…
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
salvation was through suffering and one’s labor, it is very hard for me to cease
from my labor. Sabbath calls us to stop. There is that in us which struggles and
strives and seeks to achieve. There is that indispensability complex that forgets
that the world will get on jolly well with us or without us. There is that in us that
gives ourselves far too much credit and too much responsibility for the ongoing
movement of things. God said to Israel, “Stop. Look. Listen. And in your pause let
me whisper to you that it is I that keeps the planets in orbit, and the fields green,
and the rivers flowing, and the rain falling. It is I, in that greater grace of life that
embraces you, that sustains you and keeps you in existence.” Sabbath. Stop.
Look. Listen. Luxuriate - after the example of God.
Why did God rest after the sixth day? Was God exhausted? I don’t really think so.
Was God bored? Probably not. Did God need refueling in order to go back to
work the next day? Hardly so. Why did God stop? Did not God stop simply to
delight in that which God made? And is not to observe Sabbath an invitation to
delight in the wonder of the world? To take a moment to revel in joy at birds and
bees, and creepy crawly things, turtles and rosebuds, and starry nights and a
fresh breeze that wafts across one on a summer’s eve. Sunrise and sunset, the
succession of the seasons: Springtime and harvest, Summer and winter. Sun,
moon and stars in their courses above. All of it if we just stop - and look - and
listen. Inviting us to move beyond it all to the one who upholds it all by the word
of power, whose grace embraces all, who calls us to delight.
Matthew Fox, the Catholic theologian in trouble with the Vatican, suggests that
the Church has been so hung up with original sin that it has forgotten original
blessing. Before Genesis 3 is Genesis 2, the creation of a garden named Eden,
which means delight. And the whole covenant of grace and the whole salvation
thing is simply an emergency means to the restoration and realization of God’s
grander scheme of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The breath that you
breath, that pulsates within you, is the same life that is in the rose and its source
is the same good and gracious God.
Oh, I remember Sundays as a kid - they were to be endured. As someone has said,
“Ugly Sundays.” Another part of my Dutch Reformed pietism, Sundays were
marked by all the things I couldn’t do. That oppressive legalism has created a lot
of dysfunction in our lives. It has taken me a long time to get over my rebellion
against that suppression of delight to the point at which I realize that the
invitation to observe Sabbath is an invitation of the good and gracious God who
formed my well being and says “Delight. Just sit there and delight. Don’t do
anything. Simply be and let grace wash over you.”
The writer to the Hebrews says, “Today if you hear my voice, harden not your
heart. Enter into the joy of the delight of God’s wonderful world.” Thank God.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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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
Pentecost IV
Series
The Sacramental Character of the Church
Scripture Text
Isaiah 55:11, Acts 10:44
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-0-19920705
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1992-07-05
Title
A name given to the resource
The Word: A Means of Grace: Story as Sacrament
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
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 July 5, 1992 entitled "The Word: A Means of Grace: Story as Sacrament", as part of the series "The Sacramental Character of the Church", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 55:11, Acts 10:44.
Creation
Panentheism
Sacramental Model of Reality
Wonder