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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/11e4dc63046b41538e21bda097817e40.mp3
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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
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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
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
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KII-01_RA-0-19930110
Date
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1993-01-10
Title
A name given to the resource
Light of the World
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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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 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