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The Art of Worship
A Celebration of the Arts
Scripture: Psalm 148; Revelation 4
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 9, 2002
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Some weeks ago when I knew we were going to have some especially beautiful
artistic expressions in this service, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect a
bit on an experience such as this where we are blessed, where we are exposed to
beautiful artistic expression and to think about the art of worship. As I did that
more particularly to the immediate preparation, I recognized that there is an art
of worship in terms of the execution of the flow and the movement of it all. There
is also the art in the worship, the concrete expressions which are the artistic gifts
to the community. And so, for a few moments, think with me about the
experience that we are having together about art and worship, and the art of
worship.
I have to give you just a brief autobiographical sketch and that is that I was an
absolute cultural barbarian in my youth. Out of a very wonderful and devout
home that was pious and solid and full of love and grace such that I could not
wish anything else, there was a total vacuum in terms of artistic exposure. No
sense of the classical in art at all. And my father was a very serious and devout
elder in the church in which I grew up, a very solid, stolid, provincial, parochial
church with a Dutch ethnic flavor, of good peasant stock, by and large. To my
father, being a serious elder, the finest sermon was the longest sermon on the
shortest text, and I will reveal to you my own sickness as a child because I used to
take a little notebook along so that at Sunday dinner I could render the theme,
the text, and the three points of the sermon. There were always, of course, three
points. The sermon, point one, point two, point three, and the application. I
always embarrassed my older sisters by being able to whip it all off, but it was
three hymns, two prayers, and a sermon. I even remember as a child some
grumbling when the uppity organist (I've never seen one, but they can be that,
I'm told) offered some Bach in place of the old favorite hymns. After all, if the old
hymns were good enough for Jesus, they were good enough for us, too. So, that is
the environment out of which I came.
Now, let me tell you about three experiences I had. One was about thirty-five
years ago in Pittsburgh, an overnight during which I wandered downtown
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Richard A. Rhem
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Pittsburgh into a cathedral. I don't know what it was, Episcopal or Catholic, but it
was a magnificent space. The sun was setting and the light was filtering through
stained glass and the high vaulted arches, and it was a moment for me, I'm telling
you about it thirty-five years later, it was the first time that I ever became aware
that beauty could be the vehicle of the experience of the transcendent. It was a
marked moment in my life. I didn't understand it then, but I experienced it then.
It may have been because the church at which I was a pastor at the time had the
ugliest sanctuary in North America. It had a flat ceiling and it was so big and
when they needed more seats, they added chunk, and in order to hold up the roof,
they put two metal poles in the middle of the aisle. They called them Aaron and
Herr, because they upheld the arms of Moses as he was praying. It was an
absolutely ugly place that was broader than it was deep, and you really had to be a
good preacher to make it in that place, I'll tell you. Out of that experience I go to
Pittsburgh and I have this Epiphany moment.
Some years later I was at McCormick Seminary at a seminar on the Apostles
Creed and the great Lutheran theologian, Joseph Sittler said, "You know, you
Presbyterian Reformed types always come at it through the head, the intellect,
whereas the Catholic tradition comes at it through the senses, so that there is an
intuitive grasping of the present reality of God. Smell and sight and touch - all of
that which is the other path to God, and perhaps it is really the only path to God
because God will not be known or experienced through rational deliberation. The
mind simply breaks down at the point of the experience of God, at the holy and
the sacred."
Well, light bulbs went on in my head. I who had been bred on the Heidelberg
Catechism that says that God will not have God's people taught through stained
glass windows with images and dumb idols, but rather by the lively preaching of
the word, suddenly saw that there was no need to choose between the lively
preaching of the word and all of the magnificence of that Catholic tradition which
is so rich in its artistic and aesthetic dimension.
Then, in Leiden, the Netherlands a few years after that, I was wandering alone in
the city where I had spent four years, and I wandered into the Hooglandse Kerk, a
great old church that had been taken over by the Reformers in the sixteenth
century from the Catholic tradition, and they scrubbed it clean of every sign of
Catholic idolatry. And they had recently redone the church. There were clear
glass windows, whitewashed walls, stone floor, and on a huge pillar hung a pulpit
which screamed out of the Reformed tradition that it's the sermon, Baby! Around
that pulpit there were folding chairs and it was sterile and the starkness of the
sterility struck me, and I walked up the street and went into the one Catholic
church in Leiden and felt like I was entering a warm womb. There with muted
light and candles flickering and the chancel regaled with brass and gold and
flowers, marble and granite - all of that inviting me in, embracing me, as it were,
and the contrasting experience two blocks away reminded me of my Pittsburgh
experience which I remembered sharply but had not reflected upon. But the
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Richard A. Rhem
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McCormick Seminary experience had been cause to reflect upon. Now with
understanding I allowed myself to be invited in to that sacred and holy presence
that was replete with such beautiful artistic expression. What I learned and what
my experience has suggested to me is that the aesthetic is the vehicle for the
experience of the holy. That beauty is the wing upon which the soul sours into the
presence of God in such a way that no rational discourse can ever break the soul,
because the presence of God is that which hits us at the subconscious level. It hits
us in the depths of the soul. It is not a mind thing and it is not a head trip, for it
blows the mind, the sacred and the Holy. Beauty and artistic expression is that
which invites us into that experience.
As I was thinking about these things, I was reminded of an article somebody gave
me some months ago, and I had not thought about it in terms of what I am
talking about this morning at all, but it is the story about new vestments being
introduced to St. Mary the Virgin's, an Episcopal Church on 46th Street in New
York City, a half block from Times Square. They say of this church – known as
"Smoky Mary's" for its liberal use of incense, the church officially described as
Anglo-Catholic – that it is about as close to Rome as a Protestant church can get.
Its service is intoxicatingly ornate and draws a wildly diverse congregation of
New Yorkers, black and white and everything else, uptown, downtown, out of
town. It goes on to talk about a young man, Patrick Bowlin, who was a
dressmaker, and who captured this vocation of making vestments and is totally
committed to it and delighting in it. He made these vestments at Smoky Mary's.
Frank Griswold, the head Bishop of the Episcopal Church, and two deacons stand
regaled in absolutely magnificent vestments, gold and yellow silk, and on and on,
but the fascinating thing to me as the story went on talking about vestments in
terms of that about which we are talking today, one person is quoted as saying
that it represents a real return to what we call the sacramentals, and he says the
bare-bones, the Bible kind of thing, is not feeding the senses, so what you see is
the church trying to appeal to the senses in the best sense of the word. They
realize that liturgy and vestments are a way to inflame the senses, and these make
another path to God.
I thought, that is exactly what I am trying to say. A worship filled with artistic
expression, with appointments, space, with care given to every detail, and then to
inflame the senses in order that, through inflamed senses, we might find a path to
God, for I am convinced that it is the aesthetic dimension that can best introduce
us to the presence of God.
It is a tricky area. There are diverse people and diverse cultures and diverse
religious traditions, and we are talking about style and taste, and there can be a
lot of arguments about this, but I want to give a word for the kind of experience
that we have cultivated here over the years and continue to cultivate. Not that it is
the only way. When I watch late-night TV, I see what Harvey Cox says in his
book,
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Fire From Heaven, that Pentecostalism is sweeping the globe and when I see
hands raised and eyes glazed over, people in another dimension, I have to admit
that that is so foreign to me, yet I don't want to denigrate it, although I do feel
somewhat like the story of the gentleman who was about three rows from the
back who said, "Amen!" as the preacher was speaking. Five minutes later, another
"Amen!" a little louder, and the usher came up and tapped him on the shoulder
and said, "Sir," and the man said, "I've got religion!" The usher said, "You didn't
get it here."
Now, not to denigrate it, but to acknowledge a wide spectrum of opinion and
taste and style. Nonetheless, I want to say that the aesthetic dimension can be
that vehicle, that means by which the soul is lifted into the presence of God, and
again, more than the intellectual discourse of the pulpit, it is the being "washed
over" by that beauty, that beautiful expression in any one of its forms that allows
us almost subconsciously to experience the holy and the sacred and God.
Dorothee Solle, a German theologian, activist, has written a book recently about
mysticism and her own quest, and she said, "I have two women friends who
recently left for the Catholic Church and I don't approve of that. I don't believe
anyway in these divisions among churches and why would they go to the Roman
Catholic Church that says no to women, no to humane sexuality and no to
intellectual freedom?” Then she says that, in the liturgy of the Catholic Church,
they found God, and isn't that what we all are seeking, finally, the kind of
experience that would leave us, on occasion, limp, the kind of experience that
would enable us to go out, perhaps not making any rational statement about the
experience, but just that something had washed over us that had renewed and
restored us. I don't know, I don't want to say this in opposition to intelligent and
mindful religion.
The best statement of it – I have it in the insert for you; you can read it when you
go home – by John Knox, the English theologian in his little Christology, where
he says that symbols can lose their power sometimes because the symbol no
longer grasps us with its truth claim; the truth no longer resonates in us. Then he
says the heart cannot long rest in what the mind finds false. But, he goes on to
say, "I'm not setting the mind and the heart over against each other, but the mind
in its quest comes finally to the experience that blows the mind." It is not as
though it is a bypass of the mind or the understanding. What we do here is not
without intelligible design.
It is just that what we are seeking here must move us beyond our mind's limits so
that the mind is expanded and stretched, literally, until our minds are blown with
the glory and the presence of God, and that kind of worship is more than simply
fulfilling the Sunday obligation. That becomes something for which one hungers
and thirsts. You can test it by whether or not in the experience of it there is a
sense of human wholeness and humane existence that lodges in your soul and
whether going out you are marked by the fruit of the Spirit which is love and joy
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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and peace and longsuffering and gentleness and patience and kindness. As we
come together, this assembly demands artful worship full of beautiful art in order
that our soul may have wings to soar into the presence where the angels chant,
"Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty! Heaven and earth are full of your glory."
© Grand Valley State University
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Dublin Core
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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
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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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Pentecost III
Scripture Text
Psalm 148, Revelation 4
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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2002-06-09
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The Art of Worship
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Richard A. Rhem
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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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 June 9, 2002 entitled "The Art of Worship", on the occasion of Pentecost III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 148, Revelation 4.
Experience of the sacred
Worship
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The Root of Vision and Values to Die For
Memorial Day Weekend
Trinity Sunday
Scripture: Jeremiah 9:17-24; Acts 7:51-60; John 14:15-20
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
May 26, 2002
Transcription of the spoken sermon
On the calendar of the Church, this is Trinity Sunday, always the Sunday after
Pentecost. After going through the cycle of the life of Christ and celebrating the
gift of the Holy Spirit, the Church has paused to take in its image of God - God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
On the calendar of the nation, this is Memorial Day, the day in which we
remember those who have paid the supreme sacrifice in order to preserve the
freedoms and the liberties that we enjoy as a people. On this Trinity Sunday,
which is also Memorial Day weekend, I want to suggest to you that the liberty and
the freedom and the blessings that have endured in us as a people are rooted in
the Triune God, that the vision and the values that have flowered and blossomed
into this marvelous civilizational opportunity that is ours is not an accident, but a
consequence of the vision and values that are rooted in God. Not accidental. To
try to combine these themes this morning, let me suggest that the Trinity has
become simply a dogma for us. It is a code word; it is that which marks the
Christian tradition, a doctrine, and is largely incomprehensible to the vast
majority of Christian people, incomprehensible because it was forged in language
and philosophical conceptuality that we no longer share. It is no longer
meaningful to us, and so, what we do is repeat the formula and, as I said, it has
become a code word. It is a symbol for the God that Christians imagine. But it is
hardly understood in the terms in which it was originally forged. And yet, the
forging of it was very important because, through that very dogmatic structure
down through the centuries, we have preserved that initial vision, that vision of
God, the God revealed in Jesus and experienced in the ongoing presence of the
Spirit.
As a matter of fact, all religious experience is Trinitarian in form, for we cannot
understand God or comprehend God. God is a Mystery, but that Mystery takes on
a face. It takes on a form or a shape now and then, here and there, a shape, a face.
Moses, perhaps, killing an Egyptian, seeing the abuse of his own people, fleeing
into the wilderness, struggling, wrestling with the nature of the human condition,
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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confronting a bush that burns and is not consumed, hears the voice of God and
goes to lead the people of Israel out of bondage and into freedom. Moses becomes
a founding figure, and the Exodus becomes a founding story, and a people, a
community is shaped and a tradition is formed. And out of that tradition comes
the Jew, Jesus, whom, encountered, caused those who knew him to say, "My God,
this is indeed the embodiment of God. This is the face of God. In this one's face
we see the heart of God." He was crucified, but they said, “You know, he lives. He
is with us still - in the Spirit."
And so, John, writing his Gospel some six decades after the event itself, trying to
give expression to it, stammers and stutters when he says, "I am in the Father and
the Father in me, and you in me and I in you..." This kind of religious gobbledygook - what does it mean, after all? Can you make any sense of it? Hardly, I think.
Yet, one certainly gets the feel for what John was trying to say. He has Jesus
speaking about the Father and he says, "I'll talk to the Father and have him send
you another advocate, a helper, the Spirit of truth that will be with you." And then
two lines later, he says, "I am coming to you. I won't leave you orphan, I am
coming to you." Well, is the Spirit coming or is Jesus coming? I suppose that is
what was being pointed at.
The reality behind it was an ongoing experience of the presence of the Mystery
that had taken concrete shape - whether in Israel as Torah or in the Christian
movement as the continuing presence of the Risen Lord rooted in Israel,
finding embodiment in Jesus,
articulated in the Trinitarian dogma.
All religious experience is that way - there is a Mystery, there is a concretion, and
there is a personal experience, or presence. Stephen, having encountered Jesus,
seeing God in Jesus, giving witness to his faith, enraging those who were
listening, is set upon, and he has a vision to which he gives witness. The heavens
open, the throne of God, the brightness, the glory, and Jesus ... Stephen, full of
the Holy Spirit, dying in the manner of Jesus with forgiveness on his lips.
All religious experience is Trinitarian in form - a Mystery finds concretion and
continues to be experienced as a personal spiritual reality, and, as a matter of
fact, the history doesn't matter much once you "get it."
I laughed a year or so ago when I heard on the radio about a Jewish rabbi in
California who suggested to the Jewish community that there wasn't a shred of
historical evidence for the Exodus. Well, they got as angry with him as some
people have gotten with me. Misery likes company. I enjoyed that. But, as a
matter of fact, what difference does it make if the values of human freedom and
dignity that came to expression in the Exodus, if the understanding of God as the
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Richard A. Rhem
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God who grounds human dignity and freedom, if that is grasped, if that is
understood? It doesn't really matter if there was a Red Sea or not, or if the Sea of
Reeds parted or not. And if what came to expression in Jesus, if what was
embodied in Jesus is once grasped and one is grasped by it, then, if you're
interested and curious you can ask about the historical Jesus, but as the
philosopher Santayana said, when we have to do with poets and saints and
heroes, that which comes to expression in them is a grace and a beauty and a
truth that flows through them. They are the channels of it, they are not the source
of it. They are simply the channels of it. And that which comes to expression
through them, the truth, the beauty, the grace, is the thing in itself, and the
historical data becomes as insignificant as William Shakespeare to the marvel of
the drama, the plays which he offered, for you don't experience "Romeo and
Juliet" or "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" and wonder about 0l' Will, for it is the
truth, the aesthetic experience, it is that which moves us in the depths of which
Shakespeare was but the channel, the container, as it were. So, on this Trinity
Sunday, all religious experience is Trinitarian.
I performed a wedding for a Jewish young lady yesterday, and in a prior interview
of the bridal couple, she asked, "Do we need references to the Trinity?" I said,
"No, God's enough." "But," I said, "as a matter of fact, your religious experience is
Trinitarian," and it took her aback a little bit. But I think I convinced her, because
that is the nature of religious experience. It is Trinitarian, because the deep
mystery of God, the ground, the source, the creative center of all that is – for,
after all, we didn't create ourselves, this cosmic process, this amazing venture of
which we are a part, whatever its source, whatever its ground, whatever the
creative process, whatever the creative interaction that moves it on – that
Ultimate Mystery we call God. That God takes on a shape or a form or a face and
continues to be experienced as an immediate spiritual reality, and that is the
truth of the Trinitarian nature of religious experience.
In Israel, it was all rooted for us, but it came to sharp focus in the face of Jesus,
and continues to be experienced in the power of the Spirit. Thus, this Trinity
Sunday we celebrate God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That, for
us, is a statement of our faith and I am suggesting that that is the root of our
vision and our values. It is that which has shaped Western civilization. I think I
can say that, without fear of contradiction, Western civilization is rooted in that
kind of vision and those values that emanate from Hebrew prophets, from Jesus,
from the articulation of the Nicene Creed, that creed that gives expression to the
experience of Jesus who was the embodiment of the God of Israel.
Look where it has gotten us. On this Memorial Day weekend we celebrate
Western civilization in all of the awesome wonder that it is, all of the blessings
that we have received, those blessings of political democracy, human freedom,
the rule of law, pluralism - all of the wonder and all of the blessing of being a part
of this Western civilizational grouping in this United States of America, which has
blossomed and flourished, this society that was founded at the time when
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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authoritarianisms of every sort were being thrown off. Although Western
civilization is not synonymous with the separation of Church and State, that is the
manifestation in this nation, and I would advocate that greatly, because any kind
of religious authoritarian claim on a people, on a human spirit, tends to stunt and
to stifle. But we have been free, free to dream, free to create, free to organize, to
assemble, to worship. It is a magnificent vision, with marvelous values rooted in
God, the God of Israel who took on human flesh in Jesus, who continues with us
in the power and the presence of the Spirit.
We are at the peak of our power. We have power to act unilaterally in the world.
We have power to impose our will and to have our way. We are the mightiest
nation on earth at this time, unchallenged by that which would take second place,
and we are afraid. We are afraid because we have been faced with the reality of
the fact that might and power cannot secure us, that billions spent in military
armaments, that borders guarded and walls raised high cannot make us safe. We
have become as a civilizational grouping and as a nation challenged by Islamic
civilization in a clash of civilizations, not simply Islam as a religion, but thinking
now in terms of those great civilizational groupings, we have been challenged and
we are challenged. We have found that there is no safety in our might and our
power, in our position or our prestige.
Bernard Lewis, who teaches at Princeton and is purported to be the foremost
authority on the Islamic culture, has written a book, What Went Wrong? It was
published just months before 9/11. He does not blame the West or America for
the situation of the Islamic civilizational grouping. He does not blame Israel. He
gives a very careful, historically accurate analysis of the Islamic civilizational
group at this time, and he concludes his study by saying, "If the peoples of the
Middle East continue on their present path, the suicide bomber may become a
metaphor for the whole region." This was written months before 9/11. 'The
suicide bomber may become a metaphor for the whole region." There will be no
escape from a downward spiral of hate and spite, rage and self-pity, poverty and
oppression culminating sooner or later in yet another alien domination. The
suicide bomber, a metaphor for a whole civilization.
Here we are at the peak of our power, with all of our might, and we are afraid,
because we have learned the limits of securing our self in such a situation.
Last week in our Perspectives discussion following the service, Tom Wright
suggested that we are empire, and he said, "I hope that you will not have to learn
the lesson that the British Empire learned after the 19th century's domination."
Someone listening heard him say that we were evil empire. He did not say we
were evil empire, he said simply we are empire. That really cannot be disputed.
We are the dominant power in the world, and any power so dominate that it can
impose its will and act unilaterally is empire. And an empire need not be evil. An
empire need only to operate as an empire in order to create the kind of alienation
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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that we have in our world today. The only possibility of resistance to empire is
that revolt from weakness of which the suicide bomber is a metaphor.
So, in this Memorial Day weekend, when our vision and our values rooted in the
Triune God are under siege, how will we respond? It is a very complex situation,
dear friends. You see, the vision and the values that we claim, that we hold, that
have flowered so fruitfully in our midst are the vision and values that have
emanated from below, from Israel. On the world scene, nothing. From Jesus, a
Jew, crucified. We call ourselves in the West "Christian." That is our religious
tradition. But, that which was embodied in humility, indeed, humiliation, poverty
and alienation has flowered and blossomed until it is the professed creed of the
mightiest nation on earth. It is one thing if you're wealthy. It is one thing if you
are in poverty to suggest redistribution of wealth. It is one thing if you are small
and without strength to suggest the sharing of power. It is one thing if you have
no say to seek your place at the table and to claim that everyone should have a
voice.
But, what do you do when you rule the world and claim to be shaped, indeed, to
have been shaped by the vision and the values of the God reflected in the face of
Jesus? It is a very, very complex situation that we face. For, those who are poor
and alienated and destitute and hopeless are not intrinsically virtuous. And we
are not villains. But we are altogether human and the issue involves politics and
economics, but finally it is not a political matter nor an economic matter. It is a
moral question. What do you do if you follow Jesus? If you value the kingdom of
God, the realm where God rules, what do you do when you are top dog? Or, is it
top gun? How do you act? How do you respond? How do you address the wounds
and the bleeding and the bruisedness of the human family?
We can continue to be strong and mighty and as vigilant as possible, as long as
possible. But empires rise and fall and the West will be no exception. Or, we
might try some radical thing that has never been tried before - that is, from a
position of strength with an authentic humility, asking what the moral solution to
the ache of the world might be. And how we in our power, our might, our
resource, might begin to make a difference that would drain off the hate and the
resentment and begin to reconcile the alien nations, if indeed it might be possible
to move toward human community.
It is one thing when Jeremiah, simply a preacher in the midst of little Judah,
speaks as the mouthpiece of God saying, "Let not the powerful trust in their
power, nor the wealthy in their riches, but let them delight in this - that they
know me, the God of steadfast love who delights in justice and in righteousness."
It is one thing for Jeremiah in Judah. But, what if it were not some poor
preacher, but some eminent figure who could capture the fascination of his
people, this people, I believe, who are of good heart, far better than the system
that they have put in place? What would it be if someone might rise to say, "It is
time for us, from the peak of our power, to begin to take seriously the Triune God
© Grand Valley State University
�The Root of Vision and Values to Die For
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
revealed in Jesus, that ultimate Mystery?" Oh, we speak about God, I know. We
know so much about God. We are so confident and so familiar about God. It
doesn't matter if you call it God. What we are talking about is that which is
Ultimate. What I am asking is that which goes against the grain. But it is the
grain of the universe, by 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
Trinity Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend, Pentecost I
Scripture Text
Jeremiah 9:24
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-0-20020526
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-05-26
Title
A name given to the resource
The Root of Vision and Values To Die For
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 May 26, 2002 entitled "The Root of Vision and Values To Die For", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend, Pentecost I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Jeremiah 9:24.
Embodiment
Experience of the sacred
Mystery
Trinity
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30db5f5527bdf39d8c4e7c5abd7b969d.mp3
f7a34b77f95ef5abee11133a048ff316
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0dbd9535eb61558d01e66b856fbef738.pdf
51edce6bc5c270f126da16f207518762
PDF Text
Text
God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails
From the series: Credo
A Celebration of the Music of the Church and Thirty Years of John G. Bryson
As Director of Music and Fine Arts
Isaiah 6:1; Revelation 1:17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Trinity Sunday, June 10, 2001
Transcription of the spoken sermon
It was a number of months ago that I chose this Sunday on which to celebrate the
life and the ministry of John Gregory Bryson and to share together in community
the finale of his tenure with us. I did it intentionally because this, on the church
calendar, is Trinity Sunday, and we have gone 'round the cycle once again,
moving from Advent through Christmas to Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter,
Eastertide, Ascension, Pentecost, and then this Lord's Day which is celebrated in
the larger Church as Trinity Sunday, a Sunday in which we celebrate that God
who is the deep Mystery, the Guide and Ground, the Source of all that is, from
which all flows, that Mystery that is God revealed to us in the incarnation of the
Word in the face of Jesus Christ, present to us and with us and in us in the Holy
Spirit - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - one God blessed
forever. That is the theme and the focus of this day, Trinity Sunday.
It is a proper day in which to focus on the worship of the Church, and this
community, the life that we have shared together for over a quarter of a century,
almost three decades, as a worshiping community in word, in sacrament, in
music and artistic expression, worshiping that deep Mystery of our lives revealed
to us in Jesus, present to us in the Spirit. I chose Trinity Sunday because our
Director of Music and Fine Arts, whose final appearance in that position is today,
has been drunk with God from a child. God has been the passion of his life.
It was my privilege some years ago to visit his boyhood home. He wasn't there
and so his mother let me in on all the secrets. She took me from the basement to
the attic, and in the basement there, undisturbed, like the room of a deceased
mate in which nothing is touched, there was still the little pulpit and the dossal
cloth and the school desks that were the pews, and the little organ. Some children
play ball. Some children play school, but Greg played church. And, fortunately, he
found playmates that would sit obediently in the pews as he led worship. Now,
you see, I tell you the truth - he has been intoxicated with God and God has been
the passion of his life from the very early years, and thus it is Trinity Sunday in
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
which our worship, moving through the drama of redemption as we have it in its
historic story and the scriptures, comes to its culmination, this God who is the
one whom we worship and acknowledge as the Source and the Ground, the Guide
and the Goal of all that is.
Greg's passion for God, coupled with natural endowments of artistic giftedness,
found expression in artistic expression. It is the aesthetic dimension of life in
which that passion finds its fascination and its beautiful expression. Thus,
throughout all of his life, he has been drawn to worship very naturally, because of
who he is, because of the giftedness with which he was graced, because of that
passion that could find expression only in the worship of that ultimate mystery,
indeed, the eternal God.
In the early years when Greg was with me, I didn't fully appreciate that aesthetic
dimension which is so critical for worship that elevates the soul and the spirit. I,
too, was a child warped from the womb. I just about matched him in oddness, for
as a child I would bring a little notebook to church and I would note in that small
notebook the text of the sermon and the three points, for in my childhood
experience, the sermon always had three points. I think it's probably an
adolescent rebellion that I am always certain that my sermons have no point at
all. But, I would come home and at Sunday dinner, to the great pleasure of my
father, would recite the text and the three points, my three older sisters, never
being able to match me at that point. But, you see, as a child it was likewise, an
intoxication with God, for me, not in aesthetic expression but, rather, in rational
understanding. I shudder to think of the times that, even as an adolescent, I
wrestled with questions of predestination and free will, reading the facts and
mysteries of the Christian Faith by one of the fine theologians of our tradition,
always trying to understand, always trying to figure it out, for I was steeped in
that Reformed tradition of Dutch pietism which sought always rationally to
explicate the faith. Mine was an intellectual quest, even as a child, a quest for
understanding. And that which was sought so diligently was the literal and
absolute truth.
And then there was a moment in my experience when a light went on. I was at a
seminar at McCormick Seminary in Chicago in the mid-70s and it was a seminar
at this Presbyterian school on the Apostles' Creed, and they invited a Lutheran
theologian, a great old scholar, Joseph Sittler, and in his address on one of the
aspects of the creed, he made a statement as an aside, but for me, it was not an
aside, it became luminous, flooding my whole being with light, for he said, "You
know, you Presbyterians, you always come at it through the head, whereas the
Catholic tradition comes at it through pageantry, through color, through touch
and smell, through all of the fabric of that rich worship experience of the Catholic
tradition." In that moment I knew that I had been on one track, it was the track I
learned from the Heidelberg catechism. There is a question and answer in that
catechism which says, "Why will not God have God's people taught by pictures
and images?" And the answer is, "Because God will have God's people taught by
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
the lively preaching of the word." And that had been my whole tradition. That
had been my whole experience. There had been none of the aesthetic, none of the
artistic. It had been a word-centered, rationally, intellectually delivered
systematic presentation of the faith, whereas, as Sittler spoke of the richness of
the Catholic mass, entering a cathedral, a Catholic church is like entering a warm
womb, and suddenly I saw that there was no need to choose between the lively
preaching or the richness of the pageantry, the symbolic artistic expression of the
faith, and it was from that moment on that I began consciously working
intentionally with Mr. Bryson in the creation of a tapestry of worship that used all
of the artistic expression available while not discounting the articulation of faith
in preaching. That's been the story of over a quarter of a century of worship at
Christ Community.
But, I had to learn that my intellectual quest was not enough. I had to learn the
statement which I quote as the title of this meditation from a German theologian,
Rudolf Otto, who says in another throwaway line, "The feeling that remains
where the concept fails." The feeling that remains where the concept fails. So
much of my earlier experience was in terms of concepts, seeking to bring
understanding, rational understanding, seeking intellectually to grapple with
God, and I had to come to understand that God will not be intellectually
managed. It is impossible to come to the fullness of the experience of the mystery
of the sacred and the holy in rational categories. Finally the concept fails. Finally
one hits a brick wall. Finally one hits the ceiling. There is nothing more to say.
There is nothing more to think. But, when the concept fails, there is a feeling,
there is a sense. It is the sense of a presence. It is the experience of the sacred. It
is the recognition of a mystery that transcends us and undergirds us,
overshadows us and calls us to awe and to wonder. The feeling that remains
where the concept fails.
In the pulpit ministry and in my preaching, I can bring you only to a certain
threshold and then it has been our gift over all these many years to have another
God-intoxicated, passionate minister who has been able to lift us and to elevate
us into the very presence of the Holy. Not to downgrade in any regard that
intellectual quest, only to recognize its limits and to recognize, as well, that it is in
the community of worship that the concept fails and the feeling comes to us in
that numinous awareness of the otherness of God. The mystery of God manifest
in the face of Jesus, present to us and within us in the breathing, the wind, the
spirit of God - it is that tapestry of articulation woven into the fabric of aesthetic
appreciation, artistic expression that has brought us, week after week, into the
experience of the Holy so that, leaving, the concept fades, but the feeling remains
and we know we have been in the presence of God, to do so in community, in
community where we come together to be reminded of who we are.
Friday evening the choir and pastors gathered with the Bryson family for a toast
and a roast, and the Parlour was beautiful and we had a wonderful evening and I
was so deeply moved at the memories of all these many years, and I realized
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
again the gift it is to be part of community, to have those long, deep bonding
relationships, to belong to a family, to a community that is bound together in
those ultimate commitments that have been melded into one, in-depth
experiences of exhilaration and ecstasy, the community where we celebrate life
and we have done it again so recently with so many tears. Mother's Day, a
grandmother, fighting cancer, seeing her granddaughters kneel here affirming
their faith. Confirmation, young people kneeling here with pastors' and parents'
hands upon them, launching them into their life journey. Baccalaureate with the
graduates receiving a rose and knowing that they have here a place, a home,
always, again being launched into the grand adventure of life. Moments to
remember. Moments that move us deeply so that when the concept fails, the
feeling remains.
You see, the concept is not unimportant, but it is so very limited. Someone gave
me a statement the other day, "All of our religions are but the ossified remains of
former prophetic and ecstatic visions." That is true, for our religions, in all of
their structures and all of their systems, are but human constructions which are
stammering attempts to give expression to that ultimate Mystery that will always
defy the concept, but a Mystery present to us as we gather so that as we disperse,
a feeling remains and we know we have been in the presence of God. So, we
gather as a community to remember who we are and whose we are, to celebrate
our common life together and to be challenged to go out into this world to
humanize it in the name of the God whose mystery was revealed to us in the
humanness of Jesus.
Ah, dear friends, we have been a gifted people, richly blessed, blessed in that the
concept in all of its limitedness has been lifted beyond the intellectual
appropriation to the existential experience, and there has been no one so
responsible for that as my partner and my dear friend, your Director of Music
and Fine Arts, John Gregory Bryson. To him, thank you. And to God be the glory.
© 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
Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II
Series
Credo
Scripture Text
Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17
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-0-20010610
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2001-06-10
Title
A name given to the resource
God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails
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 June 10, 2001 entitled "God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails", as part of the series "Credo", on the occasion of Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17.
Experience of the sacred
Liturgy
Trinity Sunday