1 24 19 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f71531c2ac696ebc53170b082b30b48b.pdf 9b258507fba2942a980c248f854e04cb PDF Text Text Firm Resolve From the series: The Human Face of God Text: Isaiah 50:7; Luke 9:51 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 22, 1998 Transcription of the spoken sermon The Lenten focus for this season is The Human Face of God: that in Jesus the presence of God, the reality of God was embodied, the Word was made flesh, and in that face we see the face of God. But, not only in Jesus. The only access to God is the human face; it is in the concrete encounter with the other that there is the possibility, the experience of that other that transcends the human relationship. John, in his first epistle, says no one has seen God, but the one who dwells in love lives in God, and God lives in that one. And so it is in Jesus that the Christian tradition is focused in order that in that human face we would get a clue as to the nature and being of God. God, like Jesus, has that face as revealed in the story that is told. And so, we keep telling the story of Jesus because that is where, in our tradition, we say the eternal and infinite has touched down, so to speak, become tangible, concrete, something we can get hold of, glimpse, focus on. The face of Jesus is the human face of God and, in the human face, the body of Christ, God continues to be manifest. Jesus, baptized by John the Baptist, obviously a part of that spiritual renewal movement that was inaugurated in John’s ministry, an apocalyptic ministry looking for the end of the age, looking for the dramatic intervention of a God from beyond, Jesus in the experience of his baptism, one of those people that felt the claim and the call of God such that the gospel writers tell us he went off into the wilderness to wrestle and to struggle and to determine the implications of that call, the ramifications of that claim. And he begins his ministry under the influence of John, but as we noted a couple of weeks ago, before long, he’s uneasy with that. Jesus is not one who calls down fire and judgment from heaven. As he wrestles and struggles, he finds another model, not in the prophet Malachi, but rather, in the suffering servant, the suffering servant upon whom God’s spirit is placed, who is called, who is gentle, who will not crush the bruised and broken reed or snuff out the smoldering candle, but with compassion will nurture the people of God. Jesus finds in the © Grand Valley State University   �Firm Resolve Richard A. Rhem Page 2   suffering servant another way to be about the ministry, a ministry now of grace, of good news, of gospel, the proclamation of the kingdom of God being present and the ministry of healing and of liberation of the prisoner. This was the program he announced in his home synagogue as he began his Galilean ministry, that ministry which was met with some considerable success in Galilee eventually also got its own opposition. John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod and as the whole program developed, there came a point in the ministry of Jesus as we read it in Luke’s gospel, a watershed, if you will, or a turning point when Jesus knew that things had to come to a head, that finally he had to bring his message, his ministry, his program to the very heart and center of his own people in Jerusalem, the city of David, City of the temple, city of everything for which the Jewish heart yearned and longed. There Jesus knew he must finally make his plea and give his appeal. And so, that’s the point at which we find in this week he set his face firmly to go to Jerusalem. You probably picked up in the servant’s song in Isaiah 50 that the servant said, "I have set my face like a flint," and that was the stuff that was filling the mind and heart of Jesus. That must have been the spiritual food in which he was submerged and, as Luke tells us the story, he picks up that phrase to denote the turning point, the point at which Jesus knows now what he must do, where he must go. He sets his face firmly toward Jerusalem. It’s rather interesting, I think Luke wants to embroider around that firm resolution what Jesus had to be dealing with, what Jesus was and what Jesus would not be. For just a few verses before the announcement of his face set to Jerusalem, we have the disciples arguing about who will be greatest among them, and Jesus has to set a child in their midst because, obviously, they haven’t understood yet that that which he is about is not about posturing for position and power. And then, James and John come and they say, "Say, we just shut down a ministry down the road. We told him to fold his tent and fade into the sunset. He didn’t do it in our name." And Jesus says, "You don’t get it, do you? Those that aren’t against us are for us. There is a great work and there is a broad spectrum of ministry that is necessary and you don’t shut somebody down because they’re not using your formula or using your label." Then he sets his face, he’s on his way now to Jerusalem, and they go through Samaria. Do you remember there was already an indication of a change in Jesus when he came from Judea in the area of John the Baptist and made his move to Galilee: he went through Samaria. Most of the Jews went around Samaria because of the hostility between the Samaritans and the Jews, but Jesus went through Samaria and he engaged a woman at the well in conversation, which raised some eyebrows, and he carried on a ministry there on his way north. Now he’s coming back, and he comes through Samaria again and the group is not received. There is hostility. And so, showing that they still haven’t gotten it, they © Grand Valley State University �Firm Resolve Richard A. Rhem Page 3   haven’t heard the word of Jesus, James and John said, "Would you like us to call down fire from heaven?" Well, of course, they had good Hebrew models. Elijah did that a couple of times, if you go to I Kings, the first chapter. When they came after him, he just called fire from heaven to zap them out of here. John and James were in the tradition. But, Jesus was breaking tradition. He said, "You don’t get it." In a text which is in some manuscripts, but not all, and not in the printed text I read, Jesus said, "You don’t know of what spirit you are." Face firmly set. Identity clarified. Responding to the call, on his way. Firm resolve. Jesus now knew who he was, what he had to do, and the spirit in which he would do it. And the next stop will be Jerusalem and the crisis of his life and ministry. As we contemplate that, as I think about these Lenten Sundays and the call to discipleship, I recognize that it is a time when in the church we have often laid a heavy load on people. I’ve done it myself and I’ve certainly suffered under enough preaching in my lifetime. You take a text like this, after they leave Samaria someone comes up and says, "I’ll follow you wherever you go," and Jesus says, "Look, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, the son of man is not to lay his head. Don’t sign up without understanding the implications." Jesus never took anybody under false pretenses. Someone else comes along and Jesus says to him, "Follow me." He said, "Well, I’d love to follow you, but I’ve got to go bury my father." Jesus said, "Let the dead bury their dead. This is urgent. Proclaim the kingdom of God." Someone else comes along and says, "I’d like to follow you, but I’d like to have a farewell party with my friends and family first," and Jesus says, "You obviously haven’t put your hand to the plow, because once you put your hand to the plow, you don’t go back." Now, I’ve heard those texts preached; I’ve gone out of church with a heavy load of guilt. I have recognized the stark contrast between my life and the life of Jesus. I have noticed how far short my discipleship falls from the discipleship that is held forth in the gospels, and have hardly been able to wait for Lent to get over again so that we could get to Easter and resurrection and joy and brightness. And, as I think about that, I don’t want to add one more sermon like that, I don’t want to burden one more congregation one more time with that heavy load during Lent, because, as a matter of fact, the radicality of Jesus’ claim and call is clearly set and we sense that. But, as a matter of fact, that’s a radicality that cannot fall upon all of us. What would happen if all of us would leave the dead to bury their dead? Is that really what that means? Are we to take that literally? I think if you were with me with the Swartz family, with Bob yesterday, you’d understand that one of the most beautiful moments and anguishing moments is when the family is gathered around one who is dying, the wonderful bonding, the beautiful love, the departure in peace. And I’m supposed to say to somebody you don’t have time for that because the kingdom of God is your claim? Well, what is this kingdom of © Grand Valley State University �Firm Resolve Richard A. Rhem Page 4   God, then? And as far as having no place to lay your head, what would happen if all of us would take literally that claim to sell all and follow Jesus? What would happen if all of the civility and the humanity and all of the common courtesy of our lives were suddenly to be thrown up in this absolute charge to follow Jesus? And what would it mean to follow Jesus today, anyway? I know what it would not mean in Zeeland, Michigan. It would not mean to gather over against those kids that are wearing the t-shirts with the wrong lettering on them! It would not mean to join the march for Jesus down the streets, impressing everybody with the numbers of people and the triumphalistic kind of posture that seems to be more and more prevalent in our communities. What is it to follow Jesus? Jesus had a firm resolve; he knew who he was and he knew where he was going. I want to say to you that this is a time in which we listen and we meditate and we contemplate and we allow the images of Jesus to wash over us, and I trust that all of us in the contemplation of that life stand in awe and feel a compelling urge, likewise, to be faithful and true and to respond responsibly at the moment at which we are confronted with this decision in whatever circumstance. You wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t true of you. And rather than going out of here today and saying, "I can’t follow Jesus. I’m not going to let the dead bury their dead, and I want a roof over my head," understand that as a sign and a symbol of the radicality and the priority of the kingdom of God, but recognize also that that priority is to be worked out in the ordinariness of our lives. I want you to go out of here today knowing that you are going to be stumbling and mumbling and fumbling, you are going to be halting and limping and wimping. Your discipleship will never measure up over against the gospel, you’ll always fall short, and you’ll have to plead for mercy. And I want you to know it’s okay because you’re only human. I know in your heart you want to follow that way; I know in your heart you want to be people who are responsible and compassionate and just; I believe that you are doing the best that you can. No, you’re not. You’re not doing the best you can, but you’re doing pretty well, and I want to commend you for that. You are good people; you’re serious people, and Jesus with his firm resolve is a model and, as God gives us grace, we seek to follow. But, you can go crazy with despair and give up in resignation unless there’s some healthy balance and recognition of the totality of our human response to that call of Jesus. Some of you know Glenn VanNoord who was a member here with his family for some years, who last Sunday died suddenly at age 51, and Nancy and I went to visit the family in Grand Rapids, and the open casket had a plaque in the background. I don’t know the history; obviously there’s a story about that little plaque, but it had the words of Micah, "And what does the Lord require? The Lord has told you to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." It was an epitaph for Glenn, and it’s a fitting epitaph for any one of us. Jesus had a firm resolve; he knew he had to go to Jerusalem. There may be someone here © Grand Valley State University �Firm Resolve Richard A. Rhem Page 5   who’s going to have to go to Jerusalem someday, I don’t know. Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to go to Jerusalem. When they confronted him with the possibility of joining that plot to assassinate Hitler, he had to struggle and wrestle with his own pacifist inclination over against the demonic darkness that was happening in the death camps, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to go to Jerusalem. In that concrete situation, that’s how he followed Jesus. Gandhi mobilized a whole people with non-violence in a violent world, transformed a landscape. One day he knew he had to march to the sea and he marched to the sea. We have these models, we have these examples, and for us in the Christian tradition, Jesus is that supreme example, that face. And we stand before it condemned, of course, because we are accommodating and we’re compromising. We don’t get it; we don’t see it. We are of the spirit of James and John all too often. We jockey for power and position. We forget all of that so quickly in the concrete situation. But, then, once in a while, now and again, here and there, there’s a set of circumstances, there’s an instance, and suddenly we know, and then we know, and then we go with firm resolve, and then we don’t count the consequences. There may be someone here who is on the threshold of that, I don’t know. For the most of us I think it’s going to be pretty much business as usual and another Lent. And yet, as a congregation, maybe we have to ask ourselves where is our Jerusalem? Is it time to set our face like a flint? Is there a Jerusalem out there beckoning us in a world in which religious commitments create the danger or the peril, in a world in which the demonic side, the shadow side of religion continues with its exclusivism, its competition, its lust for power? In a few minutes, Ed Post and I are going to be talking about worldviews. Can a world exist with competing worldviews? Eward Cousins, in Christ for the 21st Century, says you can’t do it in the old way anymore. Between 800 and 200 BCE, all the great religions of the world arose, independently, and he thinks that maybe we’re on in that second axial period when that which has prevailed for 2000+ years needs to make a significant turn. Now a global consciousness and a global community. Is it that which we are supposed to wrestle with and struggle with and advocate? Where do we have to move? Where are we going? Ah, for most of us I suppose it’s going to be business as usual, a rather ordinary Lent. That’s not so bad, because we’re only human. God knows we’re harder on ourselves than God is. But, on the other hand, if we hang around Jesus, it just might be that we’ll discover where we have to go in order to be true to the vision, in order to be faithful to God. And if we see it, then we better do it. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8908aab0b0b73b7221b4fb6a34b4e0a4.mp3 79c10b31f20d4650e928ac552967138b 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 Lent IV Series The Human Face of God Scripture Text Isaiah 50:7, Luke 9:51 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-0-19980322 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-03-22 Title A name given to the resource Firm Resolve 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 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound 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 March 22, 1998 entitled "Firm Resolve", as part of the series "The Human Face of God", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 50:7, Luke 9:51. Followers of Jesus Grace Suffering Servant https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/af11ba21627cab30a51a79d593049cf6.pdf f396adb112e81874a13138be6862e863 PDF Text Text Too Little, Too Late From the series: Faces Around the Cross Text: John 12:41-42; John 19:38-39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 16, 1997 Transcription of the spoken sermon On the Op Ed page of a recent New York Times, there were two commentaries, both of them discussing President Clinton, both of them by rather well-known columnists. The first one was by Gary Wills, who wrote about the campaign finance fiasco and the use of the Lincoln bedroom as a favor for the gaining of some financial support. He said, "You know what, really, is the big deal? The whole world runs on doing favors and it's not only in political office, but don't we all do favors for our friends? And is Chelsea the only one who can have guests at the White House?" Then he mentioned one of his favorite novel characters, Jimmy Flannery, who lived in the era of the old Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago when Chicago ran very well through the precinct bosses and favoritism and patronage, and he says, "As a matter of fact, I think a lot of people enjoyed that much more than the present faceless, bureaucratic regime. Now, if someone does a favor and it affects policy, then complain, but, otherwise, let's face it - don't we all do favors, one for another, and isn't that really the way the world works?" The other columnist was Anthony Lewis. His column was a very sharp critique of the President, for he, too, referred to the campaign finance matter, but he said, "I'm concerned about deeper substantive policy decisions in which the President has failed to stand for his principles." He referred to a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly about welfare reform, written by Peter Edelman, who was the Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services. He resigned when Clinton signed the welfare bill because he believed that, although there was the need to reform the system and there was much good accomplished, there also was much that was simply mean-spirited and was the saving of dollars at the expense of the most vulnerable of society. Anthony Lewis, citing Edelman's article, goes on to say there are people who are mystified by the President, how he can betray principles that apparently he seems to affirm. But Anthony Lewis said it's not a mystery at all, for Bill Clinton will not stand for his principles if it puts him at a political disadvantage. That's a damning criticism and I am not here this morning to talk about campaign finance, welfare reform, or President Clinton. I use it as an illustration © Grand Valley State University   �Too Little, Too Late Richard A. Rhem Page 2   of that which confronts all of us every day of our life - the question as to whether or not we will stand up, speak up and act on our principles, or whether we will be silent, simply saying nothing in order to keep peace at any price. It's easy enough to take potshots at a sitting President. It is easy enough to ridicule the politician for the compromises that he or she must make, failing to remember that politics is the art of compromise in order to keep the system functioning. It is not that they alone face this dilemma; they are simply the most visible among us, for all of us, every day, get into situations and circumstances in which we have to decide Do I say something, or do I keep silent? Do I tell the truth in which I believe, or do I let it rest? At the office, at work, in our professions, in the school system, community, indeed, in the Church - that decision that confronts us time and again - will I stand up and speak up for my principles, or will I simply shove it under the rug and keep peace at any price? The Faces Around the Cross today are the faces of Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. The fourth Gospel tells us that Joseph of Arimathaea went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, that he might bury it, and he was joined by Nicodemus. John is the only one that adds Nicodemus to the burial party, but all four Gospels point to Joseph of Arimathaea as the one who gave respect and dignity to the burial of Jesus. Matthew simply says that Joseph of Arimathaea was a disciple. Mark says that he was a disciple who was waiting expectantly for the Kingdom of God. Luke says he was a good and righteous man who, although a member of the Council, did not agree with their plan and action and was waiting expectantly for the Kingdom of God. John tells us he was a disciple but, he adds, "secretly for fear of the Jews." And it is not accidental that John couples with Joseph the secret disciple, Nicodemus, who, he tells us, "came to Jesus by night." In John's Gospel, he is affirming Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. He is indicating that, in both cases, there was something else operative and yet, at the point of Jesus' death, he affirms them for "coming out of the closet," so to speak, identifying with Jesus and Jesus' cause, and according Jesus that final dignity. For John really was writing to his own community, also at a time of crisis, in which he was saying to them, "Joseph and Nicodemus finally, belatedly, but nonetheless, actually identified with Jesus and his cause; they made public their faith. Go, thou, and do likewise." That, obviously, is John's purpose in painting these strokes into his picture of the crucifixion. I admittedly am going to walk around that scene and put a little different spin on it, because I believe that John himself gives us the clue within his own Gospel about the nature of the action of Joseph and Nicodemus. You will remember in January during the season of Epiphany, I suggested to you that the fact that the light is come is a wonderful, wonderful truth and a wonderful reality, but that it is not enough that the Light has come, that to our insight we must add courage and wed action in order that we may be agents of human transformation. Light is not enough. Light, then, calls us to responsible action, courageously, in light of the Light. And I used that paragraph from John 12. © Grand Valley State University �Too Little, Too Late Richard A. Rhem Page 3   After closing the first half of his Gospel, the Book of Signs, John says Jesus did all of these signs and still they did not believe on him. But then he says that there were those of the authorities that believed in Jesus, but for fear of the Pharisees, for fear of being put out of the synagogue, they did not confess their faith because they loved human glory more than the glory of God. That is as damning a criticism as Anthony Lewis' criticism of Clinton, and it happens to be the same kind of thing. Nicodemus was obviously one John had in mind, and Joseph of Arimathaea, as well. John rescued them at the end of the Gospel because they finally came out, belatedly, and confessed their faith and identified with Jesus. But I want to suggest to you, at least I want to raise the question - wasn't that too little, too late? That's not a simple question, because I don't know what eventually happened to Nicodemus and Joseph. We don't have, really, the historical data, and so I have to admit that I'm simply working with the clues that John gives us in the Gospel. But, might it not be that Joseph and Nicodemus themselves would have said, "Yes, it was too little, too late." They did believe, you see. All four Gospels call Joseph a disciple. Luke says, "good and righteous." Mark adds expecting the Kingdom of God. Joseph believed; he knew in his heart that Jesus was right, but never confessed it publicly for fear of his position. And Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and he said, "Teacher, I want to know what's going on here because you could not do the things that you do unless God were with you." And so, these were not two people on the periphery who were just waffling. These were two men who were convinced in their heart that Jesus was the prophet of God, sent of God, the Word in flesh. I wonder what would have happened if they had stepped up sooner rather than becoming partners in the burial scene - too little, too late. It's not an easy matter, because this was not a simple situation. Can't you imagine Joseph and Nicodemus meeting in the men's room? Catching each other's eye in the midst of a stormy session in the council room, nodding and meeting out there and saying, "What do we do? We both know the truth." And one saying, "Yes, but we have positions of influence and if at this point we should step up, we're going to lose those positions, sure as the world. And if we're not inside, we won't have the influence, we won't be able to direct events down the line." The other saying, "Well, that's true. But, on the other hand, what if things get out of hand and we're only the two of us. It may get such momentum that we won't be able to stop it." The other one says, "Yes, but on the other hand, isn't it better, perhaps, to have the fabric of society maintained? What if ...? You know, Jesus is calling for a radical transformation of society. He is right; he's digging deeply into our own traditions of Israel. What he's calling us to is right; what he's calling us to do © Grand Valley State University �Too Little, Too Late Richard A. Rhem Page 4   would be for the ultimate salvation and health and well-being of our people, but what if that radicality should take hold? What if the Romans should move in and destroy this place? Caiphas is right - maybe it's better if one die for the nation than that the whole nation perish." They must have struggled with those things, because they were good, honest, responsible leaders in their community, and the answer was not black and white; it was not simple, it was complex. And so, they didn't do anything. Well, that's not quite fair. At one point, in the midst of a controversy in the Council, Nicodemus did offer a word of moderation and, in chapter seven, verse two, they looked at him and said, "Are you from Galilee, too?" In other words, he just about let the cat out of the bag and, at that point, being identified with Jesus, he would have been out of the Council and out of the synagogue. So, it's not a question of whether or not they were aware or whether or not they struggled, it's just a question if, with 20/20 hindsight, they didn't do too little, too late. Does one tell the truth if it will disrupt and disturb? Does one speak one's truth if it puts a community or institution in jeopardy? Is it better to have social conformity, society limping along with truth being denied, even when it's believed and understood than it is to speak the truth and take the risk that it all might fall apart and chaos ensue? Questions that are pertinent not only to nations but to professional practices, corporate entities, communities of faith wherever you live. How do you weigh, how do you weigh the way of wisdom and integrity and truth? It's the old Falstaff dilemma. William Shakespeare suggests to Falstaff that he flee away in order to be able to come and fight another day. But, sometimes, it's too little, too late. The first Broadway play I ever saw and maybe still the most powerful was Ralph Hochhuth, "The Deputy," which was a very sharp criticism of papal policy during the Nazi regime when the Holocaust was happening. That play was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as unfair and untrue. The critique was that, in order to preserve the Church, the Pope was silent about the horror of the Holocaust and didn't do enough to alert the world to that massacre that was ensuing. Just recently, in a current journal, I read that issue still being debated, "The Deputy" still being talked about. Was it fair or wasn't it fair? Was the Pope right or was he wrong? Was his silence justified or was it criminal? Was it right to seek to preserve the institution under the domination of that Nazi regime, or is it ever right to preserve an institution at the cost of even a life, let alone six million lives? "Schindler's List" - Schindler was no saint; Schindler was a wild, money-spending cowboy! But he got caught up in that process, he began to see the bestiality, he began to see the demonic, he began to do what he could do to rescue Jewish people during that period of time, having saved 1000 or more through his own efforts, spending his own fortune. At the end of the film, and perhaps the most © Grand Valley State University �Too Little, Too Late Richard A. Rhem Page 5   moving scene, when the war is over and they are liberated, they take the gold out of their fillings and find it wherever they can and melt it down and mold a ring and present it to Schindler in appreciation for what he had done to save their lives, and he begins to weep, and he weeps uncontrollably because, he says, "Why didn't I do more? I did so little. I could have done so much more!" A wonderfully loved, beautiful, profoundly wise Christian leader died some time ago, and there were many beautiful things said in the eulogies that were offered. One eulogy said, "You were so wise. You saw so deeply. You saw so far into the distance. You understood so much. Why didn't you tell us more clearly?" Lewis Smedes grew up in Muskegon with deep roots in the Christian Reformed tradition, for the last 28 years taught at Fuller Seminary, lectured at Calvin Seminary and College last week, and was interviewed by the Grand Rapids Press' Religion Editor, Charles Honey. Not because of any probing on Honey's part, but because Lew Smedes, now retired, 75 years old but still with a passionate heart for compassion, said, "The Church is wrong on this question of sexual orientation! And it is misspent passion to fight as is going on." And then this really loving Christian leader said, "I don't want to disturb people, but people need to be disturbed." I don't know how Nicodemus and Joseph finally came to terms with this. I don't know what price they paid. I suspect, if they were given the gift of old age, they had come to terms with what they did, which was noble in itself. Perhaps they came to terms with what they had not done, even though, if they had stood up, spoken up, if they had been able to move events in a different direction, if they had been able to change the mind of the council to change the mind of the populace, Jerusalem might not have been destroyed forty years later, let alone the fact that Jesus might not have been crucified. Perhaps they came to see that to preserve any institution on a falsehood is futile. Well, I don't know how they came to terms with it, but I trust they did come to terms with it because, finally, if they were disciples of Jesus, as they were, they knew that in the end all is grace. But I wonder if, when they grabbed their grandkids and put them on their knee and spoke about their spiritual pilgrimage and their experience of life, they might not have stroked the hair of those little ones and said to them, "We did something, but it was too little, too late." And that's very sad. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b2236bcbb77742cbcf3aa5e65f875b53.mp3 1a4ef0bc86690e202795cc4cb8d0ae58 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 Lent V Series Faces Around the Cross Scripture Text John 12:41-42, John 19:38-39 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-0-19970316 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-03-16 Title A name given to the resource Too Little, Too Late 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 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound 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 March 16, 1997 entitled "Too Little, Too Late", as part of the series "Faces Around the Cross", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 12:41-42, John 19:38-39. Followers of Jesus Sacrifice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e26fb6cd3f26cdf468303ee9913f691d.pdf 6fad45b0921610a2ff29537fad06614f PDF Text Text The Good News is Too Good Not to Tell From the series: I Do Believe Text: Isaiah 49:6, John 9:5, 25 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, April 21, 1996 Transcription of the spoken sermon During the season of Lent, it became almost spooky to me each week that I would take up the text and the theme that I had determined in early January, because it seemed as though I might have picked it precisely that week for the situation through which I was living. There was really no connection, humanly speaking, between the text and the theme selected and the situation of my own life, and your life, too. But that is not true during Eastertide, because it was while I was in the middle of the cauldron that I was having to determine the text and the theme for the Eastertide series. And so, this series is reflective of our situation. And the thing that came to me was the fact that, with all of the sound bytes and press coverage, Christ Community and myself personally have been characterized by what we do not believe more often than by what we believe. And that really is quite unfair, because we do believe some things. And so, I thought it would be good for us to hear some of the great affirmations of our faith lifted up in this Eastertide season, and I entitled the series, therefore, I Do Believe. I do believe, certainly as a personal witness, but not simply myself isolated from you. I use the first person pronoun because I want to speak about personal conviction. And finally, all of us have a core of beliefs that we believe passionately with all our heart. And then, I do believe, the emphasis there indicating that belief is held with passion. I believe. I do believe! A personal, passionate conviction of faith - these things that are more than just a body of beliefs to which one can point, to which one assents intellectually. No – out of the core of one's being – these things, these things I passionately believe: last week, that "The End is Life." And this week, that the News of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ Is Too Good Not to Share. You see, institutional religion, when it gets regularized, always runs into the problem that there is a certain body of doctrine or belief that defines an institution or a religion. You could write a book about what Christians believe and © Grand Valley State University   �News Too Good Not to Share Richard A. Rhem Page 2   you could go through the various creedal statements and so forth. You could write a book about the essence of Judaism or whatever. There does come to be a sort of corpus of belief, a body of belief that is identified with a certain movement or religion. And when that religion gets established and regularized, then it becomes identified with that body of beliefs and it takes people into itself, whether or not there is that personal, passionate conviction. Now, don't kid me. There are some things that belong to the Christian creed about which you've never been passionate. But, there are other things that you believe so strongly, you'd die for it. We all have that, don't we? It's on the basis, probably, of our nurture or of our experience, but we all have a kind of selective, personal creed to which we passionately confess. And, the problem with institutional religion is that sometimes the defined body of belief no longer connects with human experience. Or, to say it another way, someone has an experience which is undeniable, but it can't be slotted into that body of belief. And so, there comes to be a tension between what one has experienced and knows to be true and what one is supposed to believe or confess because one belongs to this group or to that group. And, this particular message, The News Is Too Good Not To Share, comes from the fact that it is claimed (I'll just speak personally) that what I believe cuts the heart out of the evangelical faith. Now, you've read that. You've heard that. "If Dick Rhem is right, then the heart of the evangelical faith is lost." Well, let's walk around that for a moment. I do not think one making such a statement has thought very deeply about that claim. What does the claim mean? I take it to mean that, if I have an experience of God – of grace, of peace, of healing, of joy and delight full of hope that has come to me as I have looked to Jesus, and through Jesus have experienced the love of God – as wonderful as that might be, as life-transforming as that might have been for me, there is no reason to share it, to point to its source, to speak of the blessing my life has received, unless such experience comes exclusively through Jesus Christ and no other way; and further, unless those without the blessing of grace through Jesus are eternally lost, there is no reason to proclaim the Gospel of God's grace as it has been manifested in Jesus. In other words, unless my way is the only way, my truth the only truth, there will be no reason to witness to it, no motivation to tell others. I doubt those condemning my views have really thought about what they are maintaining. Is not such an attitude suspect; does it not at least hint that I want my claim to grace to be a source of pride: Look at what I have, or, I have the only truth? Not only subtle pride but triumphalism - one of the worst faults of the Christian Church. It is so difficult not to become proud and domineering when one possesses exclusive truth, or power or authority. © Grand Valley State University �News Too Good Not to Share Richard A. Rhem Page 3   No. The experience of God's grace in Jesus is transforming quite apart from the question of its exclusivity. I maintain The News is Too Good Not to Tell. Have we not experienced something of the goodness and the grace of God that we find ourselves spontaneously wanting to share the good news? If you get a bargain, don't you tell everybody about it? If you pull some coup in your life, don't you tell everybody about it? The only good thing I was always told I couldn't share was when I caught a fish. When I was a little kid, I'd go with my Dad and catch a fish. And I'd squeal. He'd say, "Be still. Before long, they'll all be pulling up their anchors and coming over here." Another rule of my father - if you catch it on a cricket, if somebody asks you, tell him it was a worm. Now, when you're fishing, you've got to keep good news to yourself. But, that's about the only area in life. Otherwise, if you've got a good experience, if you have a joy, a delight, if something's turned you on, if it's set your tongue to singing and your feet to dancing, don't you spontaneously tell everybody about it? Don't you want to share it? Isn't the news too good not to share? Now, I would claim, with personal and passionate conviction, that the grace of God that we have experienced in Jesus Christ is such a wonderful experience and the life and community in the Christian community – where there is compassion and mercy and love, where there is embrace, where there is worship before the majesty and the mystery of God, where there is this wonderful ethereal experience full of Alleluias and Hallelujahs and all of the wonder of our life together, where there is that personal solitude in moments of contemplation where I know that I am at peace with God, where I have experienced the grace of God to such an extent that I know that there is nothing in all of creation that could ever separate me from the love of God, where I live with my family and my children and my grandchildren; when I think about all that is mine and all of that which I have received because of the nurture, because of the tradition, that is mine that has shaped me, when I think of all of that, then I think – Good Grief! Isn't that news too good not to tell? Of course, I'm going to tell that good news! How can I help but express it? But, people are funny. This isn't a Protestant or a Catholic problem or a Jewish problem. It's a human problem. It is somehow or other a desire to gain power and to control, to define who is in and who is out, that has been a great disrupter of religious experience down through the centuries. For example, the story of the man born blind. What a marvelous story it is. Remember, now, that the one who put this Gospel together was writing for a specific community just as concretely © Grand Valley State University �News Too Good Not to Share Richard A. Rhem Page 4   as this sermon is prepared for you. This sermon is not for any other congregation. This sermon is for you. This preacher has you on his heart. This preacher has you in his head! This preacher can't say a word without you being the focus. No different with this fourth Gospel. And now we're in the last decade of the first century, as I mentioned last week. It's been sixty-some years since Jesus died and rose again. The Jesus Jews, the Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah, are finding it more and more difficult to hold on in faith. They were expecting him to return. Jesus thought it would soon be over. Paul thought it would soon be over. They all thought it would soon be over, and it wasn't soon over. Nothing was happening. Now, about 60 years later, these are Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah. But, something had happened about 20 years prior; the Temple had been destroyed by Rome. The cultic center of Jerusalem was no more. What would Judaism of the future look like? Would it be the Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah who would come to the ascendency? They were a strong movement. Or, would it be the Rabbis, the teachers of the Law, the scribes, the Pharisees? Well, as a matter of fact, it became that branch of Judaism that consolidated power, that gave to the Judaism of the future its identity, that determined what it was to be a Jew. That group. And what happens in a group like that? Again, it's not a Jewish problem, although this was an intra-Jewish squabble. It's not a Jewish problem; it's a human problem. If I get in control, it feels good. And I like to consolidate my power, and so I like to draw the lines so that I determine who is in and who is out. And, as the Rabbinic Jewish movement emerged as the ascendant Jewish party, it defined Judaism, and when you define, you define who is in and who is out. Three times in this Gospel the words "put out of the synagogue" are used. Specifically in the lesson I read a moment ago, when the Pharisees come to the parents to verify that this, indeed, was their son and he was, yes, indeed, born blind, they say, "What happened?" The father was all ready to give the answer and his wife yanked at his sleeve and said, "Don't say anything, already!" She got him aside and said, "If you acknowledge that Jesus did this, then it's the same as saying that Jesus is the Messiah and if you confess Jesus as the Messiah, we're out of the synagogue, and where do we go for potlucks on Friday night? So, be still, already." So, he said, "He's of age. Ask him. I should know? I don't know. Ask him." Of course, they knew, but they weren't stupid. What's going on there? It's obvious what's going on there. They do not confess what they believe because the consequence would be they'd lose the only spiritual home they'd ever known, the synagogue, their observant Jewish status. So, the Pharisees have to go back to the gentleman with whom they had spoken earlier. Earlier he was a little fuzzy about © Grand Valley State University �News Too Good Not to Share Richard A. Rhem Page 5   things. He had said, "I don't know where he's from. His name is Jesus. He put clay on my eyes and I see." They said that's impossible. "I don't know, he put clay on my eyes and I see." Well, what do you think he is? "Well, he's a prophet." The Pharisees then go to the parents, but now the parents put them off, and now they're back with him again, and they say, "Tell us now, under oath, give God glory. Under oath, tell us what happened." He said, "I already told you. You want to hear it again? You want to be his disciple?" Then they got nasty. The Greek word behind that revile is a nasty word. They began to abuse them. Now, they're really angry. They're not looking at this gentleman who now has sight, who had been blind, whose experience cannot fit into their preconceived idea of what is true. They can't step back a moment and, face-to-face with a blind man seeing, they cannot say in the light of that experience, let's go back and read our tradition again. Rather, they get angry because now it's a control problem, it's a power issue, it's who has authority. And so, they revile him and they say, "You follow Jesus, but we follow Moses!" He just looks at them and says, "I don't know. I only know one thing - I was blind and now I see." They cast him out. Because when you have a tradition or a set of beliefs, a paradigm of understanding, and then you have concrete human experience, and when you cannot put the two together any longer, and you are in authority and in power supervising the established and received paradigm, the last thing in the world that you will allow is the experience that says your paradigm doesn't work anymore. So, they cast him out. John's little community of Jews that believed Jesus was the Messiah - they were starting to give up, they were starting to lose faith; Jesus didn't come, and authoritative voices were saying they were wrong. They saw the possibility of being alienated from their spiritual roots and tradition. They were starting to waver. And so, this preacher in the community says "I want to write a story of Jesus for you, because I want you to know that what's happening to you 60 years down the line isn't any different than what happened to Jesus." If you'll go to John 16, you will find Jesus saying they will put you out of the synagogue. John writes the story of Jesus in light of that little community just as © Grand Valley State University �News Too Good Not to Share Richard A. Rhem Page 6   much as I'm crafting this sermon in light of this community, and John is saying to that community of people who believed that Jesus is the Messiah, "Jesus is the Messiah. I've gathered these things together; I've written this story. I could have gathered other things; I could have put in other details. I put these things together, I painted this picture in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah and, believing, have life in his name! I'm telling you the story of Jesus again because you're about to let it go! You're about to be hammered into submission! Don't you do it! Don't you forget Jesus! This was the Word of God made flesh; this was the embodiment of the love of God in human flesh! This one, this one is the Way! This one is the Truth! This one is the Life! This One is the way to God! Don't you let go of Jesus! Don't you let go of Jesus for anybody! Don't you deny your experience! We were blind and now we see! Jesus is the Light of the world! Now, don't you give up!" That news was too good not to tell, and I want to say that my favorite meetings in all the year are the three or four or five Elders' Meetings we have around here, because I look into your faces, I've seen most of you come through, one time or another, I've heard your stories, I've seen your tears, I've heard your voice crack. I've seen you throw your head back and laugh. I've heard you tell about the grace of God. I've heard you tell about the love of God that's touched you in this community. I've heard your singing; I've seen your dancing. I have lived with you long enough to know that there is some reality here, there is some joy here, there is some goodness here, there is some truth here. I know this - there's good news here and it's too good not to tell! There was a time in my experience when I was blind, but now I see. There was a time in my experience when my religion was a burden, but now it's a joy. There was a time in my life when it weighed me down, but it has set me free. There is a grace of God, a wonder of the love of God, there is a concreteness of a community of compassion – My God, people, the news is simply too good not to tell! Do we have a story? DO WE HAVE A STORY! © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fd5bfb3717cb1079d4d29f3ae96983bb.mp3 02dd049e56b50d743c3430438e8fc178 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 Eastertide III Series I Do Believe Scripture Text Isaiah 49:6, John 9:5, 25 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-0-19960421 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996-04-21 Title A name given to the resource The News Is Too Good Not To Tell 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 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound 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 April 21, 1996 entitled "The News Is Too Good Not To Tell", as part of the series "I Do Believe", on the occasion of Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 49:6, John 9:5, 25. Community Compassion Followers of Jesus Grace Revelation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/89a765b4fa5daa2da2923097d60335f6.mp3 40ad615155dda5505c3292c2259d0cd2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbab33b4cc660ed59040308921d81511.pdf 6cca075d535e0eaaf2b64bacc0e71737 PDF Text Text A Tale of Three Cities From the Advent Series: God in the Mirror of Christmas Micah 5:2-5a; Revelation 19:1-6; Matthew 2: 1-6, 16-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent II, December 9, 2001 Transcription of the spoken sermon Advent 2001 would be similar in some respects to Advent 1941, for we celebrated on Friday sixty years of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which would have been the crisis of the world at the time that Advent was celebrated in ‘41, and once again, our world is in crisis in this 2001 Advent season. It is a season in which we are particularly thoughtful about history, about the calendar of God, about where things are and whether or not there is something going on which is more than meets the eye. I remember a story told me by Bruce Thielman, who is a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, a great pulpit historically, who had a great preacher of a former generation, Clarence McCartney. Bruce Thielman said he was rummaging around in the attic of old First Presbyterian, Pittsburgh, one day and he came across some sermons, including the sermon that McCartney preached on the 14th of December in 1941 and he said from reading the sermon there would have been not the slightest hint that the world was in crisis, which perhaps is a symbol of the oftentimes irrelevancy of the pulpit. Certainly in Advent we cannot escape contemplating the meaning of the events that have pressed in upon us because it is the theme of this season of the year when we particularly wonder about the course of human history and the engagement of God in that history. The Christian faith inherited that concern about history from the womb of Judaism from which it emerged, for the Hebrew prophets are credited with causing the world to think historically, to think in terms of beginning and process and consummation. The prophets lived by a dream. I don’t know what it was, call it the inspiration of the Spirit of God, call it the intuition of a particularly blessed people who were living as a very small and beleaguered people through most of their existence, but in any case, the Hebrew prophets had a magnificent dream of an alternative world. You remember that dream - of a world of human wellbeing, when the lion © Grand Valley State University   �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 2   and the lamb would lie down together and they would not hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain, that dream of shalom. The early Jesus Jewish movement, of course, were the children of that dream, that dream which was so powerful in its provision of hope for a people who had suffered so much and so long, and there were those in the early movement, the Jesus movement, who said certainly this one, Jesus, was the designate of God. He must be the anointed one of whom the prophets spoke. The Hebrew word for anointed is messiah, of course, and so they were saying this Jesus is the messiah. That so characterized, so marked Jesus, that he became known as Jesus Christ, but Christ is simply the Greek word for anointed. Jesus, the anointed, Jesus the messiah, Jesus the Christ - what the early Church was saying was that that one the prophets foresaw, that one who would come and bring justice and righteousness and peace to the earth, that one was none other than Jesus. And so, the Christian Church came into its future expectation honestly, out of the womb of its Hebrew mother. Then, of course, there was a surprise, for that anointed one was crucified. Who could have thought it? Who could have dreamed it? And yet, the crucified one they experienced alive in their midst, and they spoke of resurrection. And certainly, then, this time of Jesus’ absence from them would be a brief interim in which the good news could be proclaimed, and then certainly, soon, he would come again. The Book of Revelation from which I read a moment ago ends with, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus,” and he says, “Behold, I come quickly.” So, the early Church lived in that expectation of the imminent return of the one who had come. And the Church’s celebration of Advent historically has been a celebration of that expectation of the one who came, coming again, and Advent has been particularly the season in which we have thought about the movement of history and history’s culmination and history’s end events. And here we have reinterpreted that coming again, that second coming, so to speak, for we have come to acknowledge that an imminent return after 2000 years can hardly be compelling. Certainly that early interpretation of where the world was in the timeline of God erred, although understandably so. David Hartman, the rabbi from Jerusalem, has re-interpreted the prophets’ dream, as well, so that that shalom on earth, David Hartman says, is not necessarily some future time and place, but rather, the critique of every movement of history. Every human arrangement, every historical arrangement, every age, every epic, every moment comes under the judgment of that dream of shalom, and every human arrangement is shown to be inadequate compared to the intention of God according to the dream of the prophet. But, here we are in another Advent season, making our way toward Christmas. What I’d like to do today and for the next couple of weeks is to have us think about Christmas as a mirror that reflects the nature of God. What kind of a God is reflected in the mirror of Christmas? From what we know about the event, what © Grand Valley State University �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 3   kind of a God is revealed from the Christmas mystery? Think with me this morning about A Tale of Three Cities as we reflect on world history, its course, and perhaps its culmination. Three Cities: Rome, obviously, the seat of imperial power, a city still today magnificent as evidenced by its ruins. Rome, who ruled the world as the ancient world had never been ruled before, ruled by the most powerful empire that the world had known. The Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor. Imperial Rome, on top of the world, its empire stretched far and wide, and it held peoples and tribes in subjection. It was the occupying power at the time of the birth of Jesus. Luke tells us the story of Jesus in reference to Caesar Augustus, for it was Caesar Augustus who proclaimed an edict that all the world should be taxed, and that was the way by which Luke brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. But, here in this far out province, the lives of people are implicated by the decree of an imperial ruler who lives in Rome. Roman law, Roman order - it was a great civilization. There was much to commend it. It was, perhaps, the finest human arrangement in terms of government and rule and the ordering of society. Rome, famous for its law, famous for the magnificent civilization that arose under its aegis. Rome was an empire not without its own dreams and ideals. After Julius Caesar was assassinated, there ensued a fifteen-year civil war, a civil war which was bloody, indeed, but which culminated finally with Octavian coming to Rome in 29 before Christ as the sole ruler. Before that, the Roman poet, Virgil, had written in his Fourth Eclogue a tribute to Augustus, Caesar Augustus, who was one declared, on his birth, as a savior, as a son of God. In 1890, in Asia Minor in a little village, there was an inscription found, “To Augustus as the Son of God, the Savior of the World.” Virgil had dreamed about the birth of one who would bring the world peace, and the Roman world began its new year, subsequently, on the 23th of September, which was the birth of Octavian who became Caesar Augustus. So, the Roman calendar was gathered around the birth of this one who was purported to be son of God. He was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar had been elevated to deity. This one was understood as son of God, and the word savior was applied to him. And so, in 29 before Christ, there is one on the seat of authority in the Roman empire, one who is understood as son of God, Savior, a bringer of peace and wholeness to the brokenness of the world. As I say, Rome, this gigantic empire, was not without its integrity, it was not without its idealism, it was not without its dream, and yet, it was the super power of the day and it was committed, above all, to the perpetuation of its preeminence and power. And so, when it came down to it, it may have a man of peace on the throne and, incidentally, the first official act of Caesar Augustus was to close the Temple of Janus, the double-faced god of war, and he dedicated a gigantic altar to peace, the Augustan Altar of Peace. So, again, it is not as though this people was without its ideal, its hope and its dream. It is not as though the Roman hierarchy © Grand Valley State University �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 4   did not understand that which was good for humankind. But, when push came to shove, it was the Roman legions that ruled, and by military might and the power of the sword, Rome enforced the Roman peace, the Pax Romana. That’s the irony, isn’t it? This powerful, powerful human institution with high ideals enforced by the power of the legion and the sword. I suppose you’re already suspecting that I might suggest that Rome’s situation in that ancient world 2000 years ago was not so different than our situation in our world in 2001. We, too, are the world’s one great super power, and we, too, are a people of a high idealism. There’s a kind of moralistic strain, even in our foreign policy. We are a people who engage in a military action and are more concerned, really, about humanitarian aid. All of the ambiguity of our present situation, eh? A mighty power with high ideals and humane concerns and yet, of course, if we would be honest, we, too, are a people like Rome whose hands are dirty, with alliances and coalitions with regimes who are oppressive of their own people, but good for our own preservation of power and preeminence. Oh, the world is a messy place, and the human story is full of such ambiguity. Here we are, the world’s great power, so reflective of Rome in the days of its glory, struggling, I suppose, with that tension between idealism and real politic, the rough and tumble of national, international affairs. Ah, 2001 - not so different than year one. And there was Jerusalem, of course, a bit of a different situation and yet, also so reflective of the human situation. There a man named Herod who was both Jewish and Edomite, so he had Jacob and Esau in his veins – there Herod got himself into the good graces of Rome and was appointed governor in 47 before Christ and in 40 before Christ became king, King Herod the Great. And he was great. We’re told the story of Herod having melted down his own personal gold in order to buy corn to feed people in time of famine. Another time of crisis, he remitted the taxes of the people. He was a builder; people came from the ancient world to examine the glories of Jerusalem, the building projects of Herod the Great. And Jerusalem was ruled well. There was the other side of Herod, though. He was a paranoid individual, ruthless and brutal. Herod had his wife Alexandra and her mother put to death. When he came to power in 40, when he was crowned king, he had the Sanhedrin slaughtered just to remove the old guard, so to speak. Another time, 300 court officials were slaughtered at one fell swoop. He had his own eldest son murdered, and two others of his sons were murdered. Caesar August said it would be better to be Herod’s pig than his son. And after his long, long rule, knowing that he had not endeared himself to the people, he retired to Jericho, knowing he was about to die, and he had the finest of Jerusalem arrested and imprisoned so that when he died, they could be put to death, because he said, “When Herod dies, no one will cry. But, when Herod dies, tears will flow.” There’s a nice fellow for you. That was Herod the Great. © Grand Valley State University �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Jerusalem. And Herod is so representative of those who are in power, who worry about keeping power, for when the magi came, inquiring about the birth of a king because they had seen his star, Matthew tells us that Herod was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem was frightened with him. You see, when you have an established order and when you are on top, you have always to worry about maintaining that order and preserving your position and your pre-eminence. So, Herod, this brutal, paranoid ruler, when he realized that the magi had gone home another way, simply had all the children two years and under slaughtered. We call it the “Slaughter of the Innocents.” A brutal act for the preservation of power and the removal of any possible threat to his authority. And, of course, Jerusalem wasn’t only marked by that kind of civil king, but also entwined in the ruling establishment of Jerusalem was the Sadducean party, the high priestly party, and we know from the story of Jesus that when this prophet made his way and made his point, and proclaimed in the center of Jerusalem that which he believed to be reflective of the will of God for this people of God, it was the collaboration of the Herodian party and the Roman government, Pontius Pilate, that Jesus was killed. So, Jerusalem was that city, too, that knew in all of its dimensions that vying for earthly power, the political games that people play, the vying for position and the preserving of preeminence - that was Jerusalem in the days of the one who was born on Christmas. I read from the Revelation to give a sense of the biblical story, the outcome of that kind of power play, for the 19th chapter of Revelation is that from which comes the Hallelujah Chorus. But, when you read the 19th chapter, you have to be shaken just a bit because there is such vengeance in that chapter, and what is being celebrated? Well, it is the devastation and the ending of Rome, called Babylon, the great harlot, the great whore. Babylon, standing for Rome, represents in the biblical perspective that whole gamut of human arrangement that is set on power, and the enforcement of rule by force and military might, economic domination, all sorts of domination systems, and in the 19th chapter of Revelation, she is overthrown and the smoke rises and there is this hallelujah celebration. And there is this great affirmation, “The Lord God Almighty reigns.” You can understand, perhaps, the vengeance, because this people has suffered. It has suffered terribly at the hands of imperial power, and so they rejoice in the dream of that ultimate overthrow because the revelation of John is again in that biblical tradition that believes finally Almighty God will bring it out right. It is rather amazing to me, when I realize that that picture is in tension with the Christmas miracle, because that picture in Revelation is the kind of expression for that human desire for vengeance, and that human desire for God Almighty to take charge and to damn the darkness and to establish the righteous. And yet that’s not at all what I see in the Christmas miracle, because there is a third city – Bethlehem. © Grand Valley State University �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Micah speaks of Bethlehem, “Least of the tribes of Judah.” Little Bethlehem, from you will come a ruler and he will be a shepherd to his people, be a man of peace. Now, you can feel it coming. This is the typical sermon cant. This is the naive preacher’s talk, because Rome will be overthrown and Jerusalem will be devastated, but the one who comes out of the poverty and the obscurity of Bethlehem will be established as the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And yet, that Christmas miracle reveals a God who comes out of the most unexpected place, and in the most unexpected way, a God who is embodied and reflected in a human face and, for God’s sake, as a child. But, do you see what I am trying to put before you? The paradox of the God reflected in the mirror of Christmas? The God reflected in the mirror of Christmas is not the God of Revelation’s almighty triumph. The God reflected in the Christmas mirror is a God of vulnerability, born as a child, become a man, crucified for God’s sake, crucified violently by the power structures, the human power structures of this world. The Christmas mirror reflects a God who is vulnerable, whose supreme revelation is in a human face and in the form of a child, because the revelation of Christmas at its heart is that human, historical arrangements will not finally prevail. They will prevail and prevail and persist and persist, but finally, they all come to nothing. And so, I talk naive preacher talk this morning, because we all know that finally, it is a power game. Finally, you can have humanitarian concerns, but the bottom line is still military might enforcing our will, preserving our position, and yet - Christmas is about a God who can be crucified, God embodied in a child. And you see, I am aware of how naive is this talk. But, remember – Rome fell. Because no matter how strong you are, no matter how many legions, no matter how many swords, there comes a point in the human story when you tire of trying to preserve a position of preeminence. There comes a time in the human story when people worry, weary of protecting themselves and projecting themselves. There comes a time when every great power finally fades, sometimes in devastating fashion. And in the meantime, people have been consumed with the power game, with the preservation of preeminence and the perpetuation of position. And so, dear friends, 2001. We have fought the totalitarianism of Fascism under Hitler’s regime and prevailed, we have outlasted the Communist experiment under the USSR and we have prevailed, and we are engaged now in a war which will not be won by military might. We know that, don’t we? And we are a people who are at the top of our game and we know no people has ever stayed there. And from that third city, Bethlehem, came one who was like a shepherd, who was a man of peace, and that really is what Christmas reveals about the nature of God. God is love. Love can be crucified. Love is vulnerable. Love is patient and kind. And love never fails. Every other strategy finally will fail. Christmas reveals the God who will prevail – because love never fails – but who is the opposite of all of our human domination systems. © Grand Valley State University �A Tale of Three Cities Richard A. Rhem Page 7   I’d like to have sent you out with a cozy little Christmas message this morning. Forgive me for that. But, there is enough for you to think about here to disrupt your whole Advent season. © 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 Advent II Series God in the Mirror of Christmas Scripture Text Micah 5:2,3, Matthew 2:3, Revelation 19:2 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20011209 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-12-09 Title A name given to the resource A Tale of Three Cities Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 December 9, 2001 entitled "A Tale of Three Cities", as part of the series "God in the Mirror of Christmas", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 5:2,3, Matthew 2:3, Revelation 19:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Followers of Jesus Hebrew Prophets Love Nature of God Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fa502e6703b2801448fdd7b36f73882d.pdf 2df1ee9b45b5d1fceca5166a5b3d5f7c PDF Text Text The Death of a Dreamer From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Mark 15:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Palm Sunday, April 9, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon In addition to the scripture, we hear a contemporary reading on Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hanged 50 years ago today outside the Flossenburg prison camp in Germany. One of his companions of the last days, an Englishman, Payne Best, who had been captured and was also incarcerated, wrote, Bonhoeffer was different. Just quite calm and normal, seemingly perfectly at his ease, his soul really shone in the dark desperation of our prison. Bonhoeffer was passing the last landmarks in his spiritual journey. The struggles of the Tegel prison days had ended in victory, and he seemed to have attained that peace which is the gift of God and not as the world giveth -the struggle to abandon to God his rich and treasured past, the struggle with the last vestiges of his pride, the struggle to suffer in full measure and yet in gratitude, his human longings and to remain open to others in the midst of his pain. All this had led him to that experience of the cross in which at last, through a grasp of reality so intense that it fused all the elements of his being into a single, shining whole, he learned what life can be when we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings, but the sufferings of God in the world. Out of this death to the last vestiges of self Bonhoeffer seems to have been raised up quietly, unspectacularly into the last stage of his life in which he was made whole, made single, finally integrated in Christ in a way more complete than any that had gone before. The Christian had become the Man for Others, the disciple as his Lord. From his own writings toward the end of his life, Stations on the Road to Freedom, Bonhoeffer gives four stations - discipline, action, suffering, and finally death. Of death, he writes: Come now, Queen of the Feast, on the road to eternal freedom. Oh, Death, cast off the grievous chains that lay low the thick walls of our mortal body and our blinded soul, that at last we may behold what here we have © Grand Valley State University   �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 2   failed to see. Oh, Freedom, how long have we sought thee in discipline and in action and in suffering. Dying, we behold thee now and see thee in the face of God. This, too, is the word of the Lord. It was a cold day in January when I was trying to figure out what I would preach in this Lenten season. It was the Thursday before we left on vacation that I ascended to my loft early in the morning and descended from my loft at eleven o'clock in the evening. I realized that the worst case scenario would be that I would ruin the whole day and still come up empty. And that's exactly what happened. Eleven o'clock at night, blurry-eyed and not a word on the paper. But, wonder of wonders, and it has happened before, I awakened on Friday morning and went to the loft again and within a matter of a few minutes, wrote out the themes and the texts for the Lenten season, and THE DREAM was born. And in the unraveling of this dream, I have found that perhaps as never before, the series has preached itself. It's been an experience of the sermons almost writing themselves. And as I come now to this Palm Sunday celebration, I realize in all of the themes and the texts, there is just one word that I would change. And it is a word in the title of today's message, "The Death of a Dream." The thing that has really struck me in this time of reflection on the theme is the fact that dreams don't die. Dreamers die. But, dreams don't die. And so, were I to publish the series, there would be that one minor but very significant change. The title of this message should rather be, "The Death of a Dreamer," because Jesus died. And so many of those throughout the course of human history who dreamed the dream have died, as well. It is one of those great, profound truths that has washed over me again and again in these days that, though the dreamer die, the dream does not die. As I have reflected on this course of messages, I have come to a deeper sadness, I think, than ever before. I've come to a sadness about things that are not new, for I have known them, but a deeper sadness because I seem to be struck more and more with the fact that in the human story we do kill the dreamers. We crucify those who dare to dream too boldly. It's not a new fact, of course. We've known it all along. We can go back into ancient history and we read the story of the great philosopher and human being, Socrates, who was condemned at a public trial as an enemy of the people and drank the hemlock and died. And we know that Jesus was fully aware of the fact, for on one occasion he said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets!" He was not unaware of that into which he had moved. And during the course of these weeks we have mentioned some of the contemporary dreamers of our century - our century, the most violent and the bloodiest century of human history. We know, for example, of Gandhi, with his revolutionary, non-violent resistance, gunned down, Dag Hammerskold, the Secretary General of the United Nations, a great Christian visionary who was brought into an "accident," Martin Luther King, who led the revolt of his own people claiming their rightful place. © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 3   No, it's not really anything new. It's ancient history. It's as current as yesterday. We kill; we crucify dreamers. But I think I've come to a deeper sense of that, somehow. It makes me sad. I wonder why. And the anger and the violence of the human family is so, so sad. Because it could be so different, and it's so sad because it doesn't seem to change. Even in the 2000 years of Christian history, the Christian Church itself has been implicated in the violence itself! It doesn't change. It's so sad, because people suffer. And it's so sad, because the very best of humankind reaches a violent end through appalling blindness, ignorance. Jesus dreamed a dream of a different kind of a world. Dreamed a world of compassionate community. He declared his dream and portrayed his dream of that marvelous picture of the father who received his children home. He lived out, he embodied the dream and, in what he taught and in his concrete behavior, he went right to the center of the establishment, right to the temple court itself, and in symbolic action cleared the court of those who were conducting commerce because they were supportive of a system, the system itself, the established system of Church and State that was responsible for the excluding of some, of growing the divisions between people, of saying who was in and who was out, a system that was violent in its abuse of those who were voiceless and powerless, a system that in the name of God was denying the very dream of God. And they killed him. They crucified him. And I suppose that, when I entitled this message "The Death of a Dream," I was thinking of the way he died. The way he died - it was an awful death! Luke and John modify a little bit, but if you readjust Mark, the earliest account, followed by Matthew, Jesus cries with his last words, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" I guess when I was thinking about that in the first place, it seemed as though, indeed, the dream died! "My God, my God, why?" I wonder if Jesus died with such dereliction, such desolation, such despair. I wonder if it was because Jesus so believed right to the end that even then God would intervene. Did not Jesus believe that God would create newness? Did not Jesus believe that he was absolutely called and compelled by God to announce the dream, and was he not confident that it would happen? I really think that probably was why his death was so awful. I think Jesus died trusting, but trusting in the midst of the darkness and trusting with his dream crushed. So, it's a very sad realization. It's sad because it's about me and it's about us; it’s about the world, it's about humankind. It's not about some ancient episode. It's about an ongoing story, which we're still writing. But if I have been saddened by that, and I really have, the more I've thought about it this year, I've also come back again and again to a wonderful realization that, though dreamers die, the dream doesn't die. That’s the amazing thing - the dream doesn't die. The dream won't die! Jesus may have died thinking that the dream was dead, but it was in the very act of his dying, in the very faithfulness to the end in his having lived it out fully, it was in that very action, that very concrete action in the midst of our history, that that dream was born again. Born again and again and again. The © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 4   dream that won't die. And that's been encouraging to me. In fact, it is a wonder the dream will not die. And I have to believe because God authors the dream, because the dream is indeed the reflection of the heart and center of reality, that the dream bespeaks reality at its center. The dream is a dream of what will be, because God will not abandon Creation. It is God Who puts the dream in the human heart, and though the dreamer may die, the dream will not die. I've been struck by the fact that the great dreamers are drunk with God. They are drunk with God! Oh, there have been certainly noble people with high ideals and great programs who have not claimed the authentication of God, but I sense that, if it is simply a human program, if it depends on human imagination and human passion and human commitment, it will run out of gas, it will run out of steam. But if there is one who is truly a dreamer - that one is drunk with God, compelled by God. That one has a sense of destiny that will not let go. It was certainly that way with Jesus. We are reminded in the contemporary research. Jesus is called a holy man, a charismatic figure. That doesn't mean that he simply had a powerful personality that sparkled but, rather, that Jesus was in touch with another dimension of reality, that Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God. There was something about Jesus that was permeated with God and that radiated God. Jesus was drunk with God! It was true, as well, of that French Reformed pastor, André Trocmé. I've mentioned him - he resisted the collaborationist French government; he created a safe place for Jewish refugees from the Holocaust; he was responsible for the saving of thousands of Jewish lives. Out of his obedience to Jesus, and in his existential moment of decision he decided not to be complicit with a plot to assassinate Hitler because it might separate his soul from Jesus. His obedience took that form. But it was true, as well, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If you read his Letters and Papers From Prison, you will find that this man was drenched with God. He was a truly, truly spiritual man. He read his Psalms and his scriptures; he said his prayers, he sang his hymns, and he loved to worship. He was a man whose life was filled with God, God-consciousness; he lived before the face of God. I'm convinced that it is God who puts the dream in the human heart. One does not choose to be a dreamer. Oh, in the old mystical days of my youth, my dear father would speak about his prayer that I would go into the ministry, and he would always add, "But I know that God must call," and I have to admit that I've become a bit cynical about that. I see all too many in my profession who are choosing a profession as much as they may, with pious platitude, say they are called. And I realize the temptation of a dreamer like myself is to get my own ego all tied up in the business, to build a great church, to build a great empire. Egocentricity so subtly sneaks in so that one thinks and, even in the name of God, makes all kinds of pious sounds when down deep one simply needs to be successful, to be a hero or something like that. But I see Jesus, and I see Bonhoeffer, and I know that when it's the right thing, one doesn't choose it! © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Bonhoeffer resisted it. He was a fully human being, he was full of humor, he was full of wonderful cultural background, he loved life! He resisted. He took aggressive action, political action in his day in the name of Jesus Christ. He was a wonderful human being. As Payne Best said, "You felt something different when he came into the room." Those imprisoned with him said he was a source of strength, of comfort, of joy. He couldn't help himself. He was chosen. Bonhoeffer said, "I learned that you don't try to make something out of yourself." A pious person, a religious person, a churchman, or whatever. No. Too many of us try to make something out of ourselves. Too many of us get captivated with some kind of self-serving dream or profession. Too many of us get too selfimportant. We get puffed up. We think somehow or other that the world depends upon us and that the kingdom of God depends upon us. And I want to tell you - it doesn't work that way. The real thing is to be resisted. And the real thing cannot be resisted, because it is given by God. God chooses. God makes dreamers. And when God lays God's hand on one and the dream is there, one cannot get loose from it. The dream doesn't die, because God won't let it die. God takes some and God says, "Dream!" And this, too, I've learned - that if one lives faithful to the dream, if one lives in integrity with the dream, then thus to live is enough. To live true to the dream in this life is enough. And that, too, is an insight that is not always apparent. It's certainly not apparent in the Church; it's certainly not what we've done with the Christian Gospel, for we've gone throughout the world promising the Christian Gospel and calling people to have faith and to be obedient because there would be death and there would be judgment, and then there was heaven or something else. We have spoken of the immediate response to Jesus Christ in terms of the future, some future reward. And I want to say it's wrong! When I see Jesus, when I see Bonhoeffer, then I know, if one has a dream and one is true to the dream, then one has lived true to the dream, and it is enough. Jesus did not stay faithful to the dream because he knew that Easter would follow Good Friday. He followed true to the dream because it was true! He was true to the dream because it was right! There's no other reason to do it than if it is right. If it is true, then you do it! You walk that path; you don't ask "What if?" Bonhoeffer did the same thing. True to it because it was right to do it. He realized in his terrible suffering that it was in suffering in this life that one finds communion with God. It is in this life when I have given up myself and joined in the sufferings of God in the world that I find communion with God. In other words, the cross was not the end of Jesus' life. It was at the beginning. The cross was not in Bonhoeffer's martyrdom; it was in his beginning when he followed the path of discipleship. If one is called and follows the path of discipleship, if one with passion lives true to the dream, then at the end it's enough. We don't need more. © Grand Valley State University �The Death of a Dreamer Richard A. Rhem Page 6   At the end of his life, with the Gestapo at the door, when they called Bonhoeffer's name, he said to the Englishman, Payne Best, "This is the end. For me, the beginning of life." And Bonhoeffer believed that. And I believe that, too. But I want to say as forcefully, as passionately, as seriously, as I can say to you - that if it is only Easter that beckons us on, then we haven't yet learned the Gospel. If it is only a promise of resurrection that keeps us faithful to the dream, we haven't yet followed Jesus. Jesus didn't go through Good Friday because Easter was coming. And Bonhoeffer didn't live faithful to the dream because there was heaven by and by. It is enough to know what God calls one to do here and now and to do it, and to do it with all one's heart and all one's passion, and having done it, it is enough. It is enough. That's what it is to follow Jesus. And it is such that God continues to seduce with a dream, to compel with a dream. And it's not sad. It's really, really wonderful, because suddenly one wakes up and says it's not some future reality it's here and now, it's communion with God, it's freedom. My God - it's joy! © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dd20c44e33a6bc2746f7dcdc8d17dbc1.mp3 825dc65d30d1880dfab3e712067ccdf5 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 Palm Sunday Series The Dream Scripture Text Mark 15:34 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-0-19950409 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-04-09 Title A name given to the resource The Death of a Dream Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 April 9, 1995 entitled "The Death of a Dream", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 15:34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion Followers of Jesus Inclusive Palm Sunday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4272f840692e1d088f176a1b30d32d45.pdf 5514c588e131844ea296192885b43962 PDF Text Text A Charismatic and Open Future From the series: The People of the Way Text: Acts 1:8; 3:19-21; 10:34; 11:2, 4 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan January 22, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon The Lesson from the Epistle is a reading from the Book of Acts, in fact several passages, in my attempt to give you a sense of how the Jesus Movement was founded and continued, and how the New Testament document was put together. We have spent a couple of weeks looking at the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the founding story. Those stories were written a long time after the event itself and they were not biographical in the sense of simply telling the story of Jesus. They were faith documents. They were written with a selective vision in order to create a portrait that would elicit faith in people. Those four Gospels come first in the New Testament, I suppose, because it would seem logical that the founding story would be there first. The other large piece of the New Testament are the letters, particularly the letter of Paul. Between the letter of Paul and those gospels you have the Book of Acts. Sometimes we call it the First Church History. Well, that’s as erroneous as to call the gospels the lives of Jesus. Just as the gospels were proclamations of faith in a narrative form, so the Book of Acts was a proclamation of faith in a narrative form. It does in a sense create a bridge, but it really is volume two of the Gospel of Luke. If you would read the opening verses of Luke and then the opening verses of Acts you would see that it’s the same hand, the same intention to set forth these things in orderly fashion. But, just as the gospel was the founding story in narrative form to tell about the life and ministry and resurrection of Jesus, so Acts was the continuing story to show how the Jesus Movement developed and spread. So, as I read, I want you to see that this Jesus Movement was the movement empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, and was thrust out into the world, not without conflict and resistance, but finally breaking the narrow bounds of Israel and going to all nations, or to the Gentiles. There are those who say this may be one of the earliest formulations of the conception of Jesus that the Church eventually came to. This was a very primitive © Grand Valley State University   �A Charismatic and Open Future Richard A. Rhem Page 2   understanding; this Jesus that they all knew, this Jesus, God has made Lord in Christ. There’s a dramatic healing at the temple and everyone wonders about it, and then Peter has another chance to preach. On that occasion he says, “Now, brothers and sisters, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your rules. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent, therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that God may send Christ (the Messiah) appointed for you. Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets from of old.” It is as though Peter is saying, “Come now, turn. If you’d just turn, then God could get on with it, you see, and this Jesus could come, Messiah, Lord, and wrap everything up.” Well, it wasn’t to happen. The community continued to grow and to develop and it was very much a Jewish community. What Luke does is to give us some models, or some paradigms of how that movement developed and took shape. The Cornelius story, Peter and Cornelius, was certainly a classic paradigm of how this gospel broke the bounds of Israel and was brought to the non-Jew. It happened simply because Peter was given a vision that he couldn’t deny and an experience that simply overwhelmed him. So he has a vision, hears a knock at the door, there are men beckoning him from Cornelius who has had a vision, and he comes to Cornelius’s house and he says, “You know I shouldn’t be here. This is contrary to everything I’ve ever been taught, associating with the likes of you. What do you want?” They asked, “What’s God telling you? Tell us.” Peter opened his mouth and said, “Truly, I perceive that God shows no partiality.” [Pretty good for Peter.] “But in every nation, anyone who hears him and does what is right and acceptable to him. You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. The word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth of the Holy Spirit and with power. How he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him manifest—not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God, as witnesses. Who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead, and he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he was the one ordained by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness and everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins in his name.” © Grand Valley State University �A Charismatic and Open Future Richard A. Rhem Page 3   While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard and the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. They heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God, and Peter declared, “Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked him to remain for some days. Now the apostles and the brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcized people and eat with them?” Peter began to explain to them step by step. About the same time, sometime between 70 and 100, the Gospels were written: the Book of Acts was written and the Gospels as well, the Gospel of John maybe toward the end of the century. But John, too, was trying to shape the future by understanding the present. So he tells the story of Jesus, and in the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John is the familiar story of the woman at the well in Samaria. She’s a woman. She’s a Samaritan. Jesus talks to her, already shattering the preconceptions of his day. Then he indicates to her that he knows a thing or two about her, and she thinks to herself, “This is getting too personal, let’s talk theology.” So the woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. The hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For such the Father seeks to worship.” The problem with following the course is not that Jesus has failed us, but that we failed Jesus—over and over and over again. So there’s a Christian church instead of simply the blossoming of Israel into a great world religion with a message of light and salvation for the whole world. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus, but as I said, they’re faith documents trying to create faith in those to whom that story, that narrative form of that faith commitment is woven, and the Book of Acts as well. Often we see Acts as a bridge between the Gospels and Epistles, as I said at the scripture reading. As a matter of fact Acts is not a history, although it is in the shape of history. What the Gospel writers were doing and what the author of Acts was saying was the same as the Gospel of Luke, Volume II. What they were doing was telling the story not simply recording the past. You know, historians are sneaky people. You think they are sort of harmless because they just grub around in the past. But you know what historians are? They grub around in the past until they can understand the present so they can © Grand Valley State University �A Charismatic and Open Future Richard A. Rhem Page 4   determine the future. There’s not a historian alive who is an objective observer of what really happened, because most of the time we can’t really determine what really happened. So, there’s data back there. There’s a connection with concrete events, but the historian is one who weaves that data into a story. And that story becomes compelling. That story interprets the present and it shapes the future. This story was written sometime between 70 and 100. We are four decades, minimally, away from the event. The Jesus Movement has started with some considerable success already. It has permeated the ancient world, and it’s in crisis. The Church is always in crisis; it’s nothing new. The crisis is that the Jesus Movement starts out very understandably as a Jewish movement. Jesus was a Jew. Sorry to tell you, folks, Jesus wasn’t a Christian. I don’t think Jesus ever intended to be anything other than a Jew, a faithful son of Israel—the fulfillment and the blossoming and the culmination of all that marvelous tradition. So it is understandable, as well, that the first movement, the Jesus Movement, was a Jewish movement you could call People of the Way. In the story of Paul’s conversion, from Saul to Paul, in Acts 9:2, you’ll read that he went after the People of the Way. Acts 19:23: once again, when the talk in Ephesus was about some controversy, these are People of the Way. How do you characterize new movements? No one knows quite what to call them and so they were called People of the Way. So it’s a Jewish movement, those who believe that this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed God’s anointed one, God’s Messiah. It is a community in Jerusalem in which Jesus’ brother James becomes a dominant figure. But the intention, Luke tells us, was that this thing go in concentric circles out to the whole world and so it started in Jerusalem, a Jewish community, where it gets some opposition. There was a good solid Jew named Saul, who was on his way to persecute the People of the Way. Bingo, he receives a vision, a light from heaven, and he turns around—a dramatic conversation – and he becomes St. Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, his vision entails a ministry beyond the limits of Israel. He begins to go out into the Roman Empire. He tells the story at the synagogue to the Jews first but, when he gets turned away there, he preaches in the marketplace to anybody who will listen. Before long there’s a community there: the cities in Galatia, Asia Minor, etc. Now there’s trouble brewing. This I think is what the Book of Acts is really about. It is not a bridge between the Gospels and Paul’s letters. It is attempting to be a bridge between the Apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles or the nations, and James—the Lord Bishop of the First Reformed Church of Jerusalem. That’s the tension. You see, there were a limited number of Jews to evangelize in the world, but there was a whole world of Gentiles. And when the consistory met in Jerusalem at the First Jewish Christian Reformed Church, they said, “You know this fellow, Paul? If he keeps doing what he’s doing, saying that those Gentiles can be members © Grand Valley State University �A Charismatic and Open Future Richard A. Rhem Page 5   with us in the community of faith without first becoming Jews, the whole character of our church will be changed. It will no longer be like it has been. They don’t know our customs. They don’t know how to act. They don’t know the inside jokes of the family when they gather. They’ve got a lot of strange things about them. It doesn’t feel comfortable. How can we be a family when people are coming right out of all kinds of pagan practices and expecting to sit down at table with us?” Anybody with any insight could see that, if Paul was successful and the mission to the Gentiles should prosper, it was going to be a whole new ball game. There was sharp tension because the things that have been for us, the mediators of grace, the things that we have grown up with, the things that we feel in our depths without having to think intellectually about, those are precious to us. We don’t let those go easily and we don’t open ourselves up to that which might threaten that very easily. Well, poor Peter got caught in the crossfire between James and Paul. And what Luke does as an author, as a spinner of a literary tale, is to give us marvelous paradigms. The central paradigm, the hinge-point of the Book of Acts, is the story of Peter and Cornelius. We read it earlier together. Peter, kind of against his will, finds himself in a setting and doesn’t know what to do but to tell a story of Jesus—his ministry, his death, his resurrection. Bingo, the Spirit zaps these nonJewish listeners and Peter says, “I can’t believe this, but it would appear that God shows no favoritism, there’s no partiality with God.” So he says, “Go ahead, baptize them.” Well, it’s one thing to have a vision as Peter had, it’s one thing to have one’s concrete experience confirmed, the intuition, but it’s another thing to have to go back to headquarters. And he got it in the neck. They said, “We understand you had ham and eggs?” So Peter started to tell the story, step by step. Now folks, that isn’t just an interesting little tale. Today when I’m preaching the truth, which isn’t always the case, of course. (Laughter) But, preachers are like historians, they are also trying to understand the present in order to shape the future out of the facts of the past. That’s what was going on. So, this People of the Way, a Jewish movement, was developing a People of the Way, a Gentile movement. The People of the Way, Jewish movement, were able to be brought around to where they could see that this Way [involved more] than they first dreamed of. Unfortunately, not much of the leadership of the Jewish church at the time was able to do that 180-degree turn like Paul did, and like Peter did, and maybe the 110-degree turn that James did. James never quite came around, but he turned around enough to get in and stay in. But what happened is that a Jesus movement within Judaism began to get an identity and then it got connected to this Gentile movement of Jesus. Before long, even though these people were so close together, as history developed they separated because what happens in human groupings is that when there’s a lot at stake we need to © Grand Valley State University �A Charismatic and Open Future Richard A. Rhem Page 6   justify our separate existence. And we justify our separate existence over against the other. It works both ways. Before long the People of the Way were comprised of Jewish and Gentile people, but it becomes a separate movement from Israel, the womb that gave it birth. That Jesus movement was a charismatic movement, which means that it was a movement gifted by the Spirit. In the Christian church today we talk about certain charismatic churches. Well, I want to tell you the whole church is charismatic or it’s nothing. Now, in the whole church some groups come alive suddenly and they experience the power and presence of the Spirit, and they begin to sing and dance and stomp their feet. Then we say, “Oh, they are charismatics.” Well, so are we, although we’re kind of dull and boring. Because what was happening, what moved that Jesus Movement out, was the gust of the Spirit. As Luke tells the story in the Book of Acts, it is the risen Christ whose presence, not in flesh but in Spirit, whose power was still on—the power, the presence, everything that they had experienced with Jesus – was still there. It was within their community. It was a movement of the breath of God, the wind of God, the Spirit of God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3336e016660cf125f204f20b8ac97ec.mp3 5bf932278e3edd7385616bf57b0067cc 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 III Series New Testament Series Scripture Text Acts 1:8, Acts 3:19, Acts 10:34, Acts 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/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950122 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-01-22 Title A name given to the resource The People of the Way: A Charismatic Community, An Open Future Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 22, 1995 entitled "The People of the Way: A Charismatic Community, An Open Future", as part of the series "New Testament Series", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 1:8, Acts 3:19, Acts 10:34, Acts 11. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Historical Jesus Liturgical Calendar Spirit of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/522480f194e26ae22f3a0a91bb9e74f4.pdf 1d742dc5c57186ba6c78634438620f63 PDF Text Text All This and Heaven, Too! Ascension Day Sunday Text: Luke, 24:51; Romans 8:31-39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 23, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51 If God is for us, who is against us? …Christ Jesus…is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us….nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (Selected) This is Ascension Sunday. Some of you may have missed our service on Thursday evening. (Laughter) Well, I used to have to go to Ascension Day service. Someone asked me, “Do you have a service in your congregation on Ascension Day?” I said, “No. I love my wife, but to just preach to her alone wouldn’t turn me on.” (Laughter) You probably did miss the Ascension Day service, so we are going to do it today. We call it Ascension Sunday now, but Thursday was the 40th day after Easter. According to the way that Luke tells the story of Jesus there was resurrection on Easter morning, and then there was a period of time - 40 days – but that’s a period of time in biblical terminology, a period of time in which the risen one from the presence of God made an appearance to his disciples. Then, Luke tells us, those appearances ceased. He puts it on a timeline of 40 days, and then 10 days to Pentecost and the pouring out of the Spirit of God. So we celebrate Ascension Day in order to remember that the crucified one was exalted into the presence of God; that Jesus who was crucified was not only raised from the dead but was received into the presence of God, enthroned and empowered; that Jesus is in heaven with God for us on our behalf. According to the way that Luke tells the story, we have Jesus appearing to his disciples, but that appearance was the appearance of the resurrected one. Jesus didn’t have an address. He didn’t live someplace during that period of time. He always came from God. So the appearances of Jesus were the verification of the reality of his living presence with his disciples. The Christian Year is just about over. We are coming to the end of another cycle. But it is interesting that the story of Jesus as we celebrate it in the Christian Year is not a story that begins with the birth of Jesus. Rather the season of the © Grand Valley State University   �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Christian Year begins with Advent when we celebrate the fact that God will bring all things to completion. We celebrate our Christian hope in the first season of the year, and then we move to Christmas and the birth, and the life, and the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. In other words, the story of Jesus is the ground of our hope, and the fact that Jesus is exalted in the presence of God is the deep assurance with which we live. I want to say just a couple of things very briefly to you this morning. The first may seem obvious and unnecessary to say and yet I am going to say it: the exalted one is none other than the one who was crucified. It is Jesus who died who is in the presence of God. The exaltation of Jesus is the consequence of the life that Jesus lived – the way that he walked, the faith in which he believed. Paul tells us in his great hymn about Christ in Philippians 2 that he “humbled himself.” Paul says, quoting a hymn of the time that, Jesus humbled himself, took on the form of a servant, became obedient unto death, even death on the cross whereby, wherefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God.” The one who is exalted is the one who was crucified. I say that because sometimes I hear Christians talk as though it is possible in our present human experience to know victory and triumph. I remember a chorus from when I was a kid, “Victory in Jesus.” Sometimes I hear in some parts of the church a kind of triumphalistic attitude. Do you know that word? I looked it up in the dictionary. It’s not there! (Laughter) But it’s a word anyway. Triumphalism or a triumphalistic attitude is a kind of arrogant, superiority whereby we figure that we are on the winning team. You know - come to Jesus and be a winner. Join the church and be a part of the Christian movement, be “Number One.” It’s not true. Come to Jesus, and to the degree that you are faithful to the Way of Jesus, you might be a loser. Was Jesus a winner or loser? You say, “Well, he was a winner.” You know, “Crown him with many crowns. The lamb upon his throne.” I want to remind you on Ascension Sunday, that Jesus was a winner only because he was willing to be a loser. Jesus was a servant. Jesus went the way of suffering. He was a man of sorrow, despised and rejected. Jesus slugged it out and the world said ‘No’ to him. The world put him to death. And to the extent that the Christian Church today would follow the way of Jesus, I don’t think it would be any different. Young people, as you make your decisions, crucial decisions in your life right now, think long, decide carefully. It is so easy to just get caught up in the stream of things, unthinkingly making decisions, trying to be “Number One,” trying to capture the world. Suddenly you get yourself locked into a way of life and a structure of society. Then you get to be a doddering old fool like me and suddenly you say, “How can I get unlocked from all of this and really be what Jesus wants me to be?” © Grand Valley State University �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Jesus was not a winner. Jesus was faithful to God. Jesus did all that he believed that God called him to be, and it got him a cross. We cannot leap over our present experience and grab that crown from Jesus and reign with him now. We are called to serve with him now, and if need be to suffer as he suffered. And if need be to go through crucifixion as he went through crucifixion because it is God who exalts the one who is willing to obey and follow - even to death. No cross. No crown. Don’t believe those superficial siren calls that say, “Come to Jesus and be a winner.” Well, that’s a downer. Want to reconsider? (Laughter) Is that all I have to say? No. I want to say this too, that in the meantime when you are slugging it out making the decisions that would honor Jesus and go the way of Jesus, you are not alone. Paul explained his understanding of the Christian faith in the letter to the Roman Church as fully as anywhere. Then when he concludes his exposition he says, “What shall we say to all these things?” That’s his question. “What shall we say to all these things?” He concludes, “If God is for us who can be against us?” There’s a promise for your confirmation and for us all. “If God be for you, who could be against you?” Then he summarizes all of the events we have just celebrated, for he says, “It is Christ who died, yea that was risen again, that is at the right hand of God who is praying for us.” Jesus in heaven, in the presence of God praying for us. Cheering you on. Encouraging you. Your cheerleader in heaven - one who has gone before you, who has gone through the cross, received the crown and is there in the presence of God and knows your name, and cares, and is with you and says to you what he knew so fully, “If God is with you, who could be against you?” Oh, you say, “But there’s a lot of things that could go wrong.” Paul knew that too. He says, “Famine, nakedness, persecution, sword, peril.” Well, what would be your list today? What things go wrong in our lives? Paul says, “It doesn’t matter.” Give the list however you want to construct it. Then he says, “Those things will never separate us from the love of Christ. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” but conquerors in the conflict and able to stand in the midst of the storm, able to stand against all of the pressures that would bring us in another way. You are not alone. God is for you. Jesus is praying for you. “There’s nothing that will ever separate you from the love of God.” That’s the way he concludes this chapter in some of the most beautiful lines that have ever been penned. He says, “Neither life nor death, nor principalities nor powers, nor things in the heights nor the depths, angels, things present, things to come, nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You have all you need here and now to follow the way of Jesus in spite of the cost, in full light of the cross. But even that is not all I can say, because the exaltation of Jesus is a sign to us that this is not all there is. There is all of this, and heaven too. © Grand Valley State University �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   I was really moved last week at how deeply so many of you were moved at the song of Eric Clapton, “Tears in Heaven.” It reminded me that down beneath our education and our sophistication and our kind of natural reserve for one another the hearts of us all are haunted by heaven. The longing of us all deep down is to know that this is not all that there is. Jesus is in the presence of God, through the cross, receiving the crown. We can’t claim the crown today. Ours is still the way of the cross, but beyond that we have one waiting for us, preparing a place for us. The promise of Jesus in heaven is the promise of heaven for those that follow Jesus. Jesus with us here. We with Jesus there. All of this. All of this and heaven too! Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d9e75a1ac9f58b67d16315a9b03e79e5.mp3 2780971a8eea22e14f748f0497f32fc1 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 Ascension Sunday Scripture Text Luke 24:51, Romans 8:31-39 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-0-19930523 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-23 Title A name given to the resource All This and Heaven Too! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 23, 1993 entitled "All This and Heaven Too!", on the occasion of Ascension Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 24:51, Romans 8:31-39. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Liturgical Calendar https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cad7291f389d2d48d1276b24de994abc.pdf 8bd6d2d9a013037cb12dda40a155778c PDF Text Text The Human Face of God From the series Faith in Jesus: Trust in God… Text: Acts 3: 14-15 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide III, April 25, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon You…killed him who has led the way to life. But God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:14-15 We made a switch at Easter. We moved from the consideration of the faith of Jesus to a consideration of a faith in Jesus on the part of that early community that gathered around Jesus. The switch was a switch from examining how Jesus believed, which shaped how he lived, which caused his death, to an examination of how those around him who had been impacted by him, who had experienced the faith of Jesus, came to put faith in Jesus. The Christian movement, which only gradually differentiated itself from the Jewish community, is characterized by those who put faith in Jesus. So with a little switch of the preposition from the faith of Jesus to faith in Jesus we move out of Lent and into Eastertide and try to get a handle on how that early community came to view Jesus as the unveiling of God. Jesus had been a faithful Jew. He lived within the context of the covenant of grace. He knew no God except the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he had no intention to do anything but to speak to that covenant community and to speak to them of their God – of the nearness of their God, of the graciousness of their God – and to call them to trust in that God. He was a threatening figure. His destabilizing ways undercut the established shape of things: the temple and the priesthood, the political and religious structures. And because of this he was crucified. It would have appeared that he was simply one more in that line of prophets that had characterized the history of Israel. A prophet would stand and speak for God and would bring upon himself the wrath, particularly of the leadership of the community, and would end up a martyr for the faith. Jesus himself spoke about that whole line of the prophets that had been killed by “Jerusalem.” So it might have appeared that Jesus was simply one more of those. He had made his proclamation. He had made his call. He had been obedient to God. And he was killed. © Grand Valley State University   �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   But there was something different this time. This time his followers became conscious of the fact that the one who had been crucified was alive. Not in some bodily form. Unfortunately in our Christian tradition, in order to affirm the reality of resurrection, sometimes we have spoken about the bodily resurrection, and there is not a bodily resurrection—that corpse laid in the tomb didn’t suddenly resuscitate and walk out of the tomb. Jesus is spoken of as “appearing.” When Paul lists the resurrection appearances, sometimes to an individual, sometimes to a group, he also includes the appearance to himself and we know that was a vision. The appearances of Jesus were the inward experiences of those who sensed that the crucified one was alive and present and powerful, but not in an ongoing historical bodily human existence. Rather, God had raised this one to another dimension of life or reality, but a dimension of life and reality that was able to be experienced as personally, powerfully present. Still active, still alive, still with them. So those who had been with him throughout his life, who had understood gradually the faith of Jesus, came to believe that in him God had done some unusual thing. That God had vindicated the Way of Jesus. That God had authenticated this one as God’s servant. That God had said “yes” to Jesus’ faith and Jesus’ way, and Jesus’ call. So the followers around Jesus, and the experience of Jesus living in their midst, spiritually alive, began to put their faith in Jesus. Now in the beginning those early witnesses had no sense of separating from the temple or from the Jewish community. For example, in the story I read a moment ago, Peter and John in the ninth hour, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, are making their way to the temple to pray. They were good Jews. They were going to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the God of the Covenant, the God of covenant grace. They didn’t know any other faith. They went to the temple to pray and to praise God. They went there with a sense that this one who had been crucified was with them also. They came to a cripple by the gate called “Beautiful,” who was placed there every day by friends so that he could beg for alms. Not a bad place to beg for alms, you see, people coming to church looking for a way to look as good as possible. So they flip him a coin, come in to the altar and feel a little bit justified. It was a pretty good place to pick up a nickel or a dime. This time Peter and John come by and he held out his hand and they say, “We don’t have silver and gold,” and he says, “Then you’re not worth much. Get out of the way so somebody can come.” That’s really the bottom line for this man. But Peter says to him, “Look at us,” catching his attention. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And the man stands up and walks, and he begins to leap and to praise God. He goes into the temple and the people see him as the one who had always been there, day after day. He was the lame, the cripple, the handicapped one leaping and praising God, and they were astounded. © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This gives Peter an occasion to bear witness to what had just happened. So he says to them, “Why are you so amazed? Why do you wonder and stare at us as though through our power or our piety this man was made to walk? No,” Peter says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus.” You see Peter and John after Easter and after Pentecost in the presence of the Pentecost Spirit, and Peter says, “It is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is the God of Israel. It is the God whom you are all here to worship. It is this God who has healed this man.” But, notice, this God healed the cripple in the name of Jesus. Peter says to the Jewish leaders who later call him on the carpet for what he has done, “You rejected the holy and righteous one. You killed the author of life.” In the New English Bible, (I like the translation a little bit better) it says, “You killed him who has led the way to Light. You killed him who has led the way to Light, but God raised him up.” Now he says, “…by faith in his name.” His name. The name stands for the person, for the reality, for the essence. The name equals the person in biblical thought. The name of God is the essence of God, the power of God, the person of God. And the name of Jesus is the person of Jesus. He says, “…by faith in his name.” His name itself has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given him perfect health in the presence of all of you. Now, this is rather interesting. Here in the immediate aftermath of the explosion of Good Friday and Easter the disciples are sorting out what in the world is happening. Jesus whom they loved was crucified. They think it’s all over. But it’s not over. They experience the presence of the crucified one, living! The crucified one then has been vindicated by God. God has said “yes” to this one, so this one was right. And this one is still with us now. Peter says a cripple is healed by the power of God through this one. What’s going on here? I don’t think they knew. I don’t think any of us could or can know exactly. But for Peter and John, representative of that early apostolic community, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of David, the God of covenant grace, the God of Sinai, the Creator – this God seems to be accessible or available through Jesus. Jesus becomes as it were, a handle on God. How do you image God? Could you form a picture in your mind? Maybe it’s off the cover of an old Sunday School leaflet of your childhood. Were you ever in a group therapy session or a seminar where they had you lie on your back? I remember one instance where I had to lie on my back, breathe deeply, close my eyes and visualize a huge white screen, and then let images tumble. Maybe somebody was reading something and you had to let images tumble. The only thing I ever see on that white screen is a white-out. One time I saw whole flock of white doves. (Laughter) I never see anything. I don’t visualize very well. Some people visualize very well. But, how do you visualize God? How do you bring God near? How do you get in touch? I mean, God – God! The eternal God, God incomprehensible! Beyond our human ability to comprehend, apprehend. That God becomes for us available, even visible in the way of Jesus. Jesus becomes the © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   human face of God. God seems to draw near to us in Jesus. So Peter and John can say to this cripple, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” But they are not claiming that the healing is the power of Jesus. Rather they say clearly that it is the power of God. It is not as though Jesus now comes as a secondary God or in competition with God, but Jesus becomes as it were, the conduit. Jesus becomes the mode of access. Jesus is the one who brings God near. Jesus is the one who draws us into the mystery that is God. Jesus becomes the medium for the experience of God. There was no reason for a Christian Church at this point. For Peter and John, I think it would have been the farthest thing from their minds. If you had said they were going to be disciples of an eventual institution called a Christian Church over against the Jewish community of faith they would have denied it at that moment. Those who study this thing tell us that probably this passage is the earliest attempt to give some kind of formulation to that relationship of Jesus to God. It is stated here that Jesus is not God. I think Jesus might have been very comfortable with Peter and John bringing the power of God to bear on that cripple through his name because Jesus represented God as a God who heals us: the God of the abandoned - the God full of compassion - the God who forgives us - the God whose power is available to us, so I think Jesus probably would have been comfortable with this. I am not so sure Jesus was comfortable with what eventuated down another few decades and down another couple of centuries where Jesus is elevated, and elevated and elevated until Jesus is God. In the early creeds of the Church, this human servant of God, Jesus, is continually elevated until he becomes God and becomes for Christians the primary focus of worship and prayer. I am not sure that that development would have been in accord with the intention of Jesus. There are enough evidences in the New Testament itself that Jesus intentionally deferred to his “Father,” as he called God. Jesus never abrogated to himself the prerogatives of deity. Jesus was the servant. Jesus was the proclaimer. Jesus was the revealer. Jesus in his life showed the Way, spoke the Truth, offered the Light. But in the development within the Christian Church over the first four and a half centuries, the development moved from this kind of conception to a higher and higher and higher raising of Jesus to where (and this is in preparation for Trinity Sunday down the way a few weeks), where in popular conception we almost have three Gods. I don’t know if it’s possible to hop back over those centuries and over those creedal formulations to get back to something like this, but sometimes I think we’d be better off if we could be right where Peter and John were at the Gate Beautiful. If we could say to the cripples, to the broken, to the outcast, to those who are lost, if we could say, “Look at me. In the name of Jesus, God’s servant, stand up and walk.” You see what Jesus made available was the presence and the healing power of God. © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   The healing power of God . . . how do we access that? How did Peter and John access that power? It still happens today. There are still healings today. Everybody can’t do it, but some can do it. Some have the gift of healing. Some with the laying on of hands seem to communicate an energy that enlivens and makes whole. Perhaps they are people who believe and know that the whole world is pregnant with God’s power and presence, God who can make us whole so we can live, begging outside at the gate but dancing and leaping and praising God. Most of us are cripples. Most of us are dragging around so much baggage and garbage, and we hold tightly to our lives when someone needs to say to us, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” How are we healed today? In the name of Jesus, but now through the presence of those who follow in his footsteps. Reach over and take the hand of the person next to you. There, in that flesh, the way of Jesus and the presence of God continues to heal and make one another whole. If we could only divest ourselves of all of our protective layers, we might be more open to the power of God which surrounds us. Feel that presence…and “In the name of Jesus, who showed us the power of God, rise up and walk.” That’s a God you can love. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ffd458ae1223b42ce15f56618927d4e9.mp3 bd7e9c7d9827b010e6711433435645ff 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 Eastertide III Series Faith in Jesus: Trust in God Scripture Text Acts 3: 14-15 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-0-19930425 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-25 Title A name given to the resource The Human Face of God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 April 25, 1993 entitled "The Human Face of God", as part of the series "Faith in Jesus: Trust in God", on the occasion of Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 3: 14-15. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Faith Followers of Jesus Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1989eea9dfa8b14a230505f9b61ceeab.pdf 5dddf1a82436b221dca8701ea7279b0b PDF Text Text The Faith of Jesus Vindicated Easter Sunday Text: Ezekiel 37:9; Romans 1:4; Mark 16:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 11, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …breathe upon these slain, that they may live. Ezekiel 37:9 …declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:4 … Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He has been raised. Mark 16:6 I often have maintained that if Lent is properly preached, if one has been true to the Gospel and honored the Way of Jesus, Easter is just a matter of saying, “The Lord is risen.” In this case, this Lent, we have been speaking of The Faith of Jesus, and this morning I want to say that the faith of Jesus was vindicated by the Living God who brought Jesus to life from the dead. Note that the resurrection of Jesus is not really something so significant about Jesus. It is not something that happened because of some intrinsic quality of Jesus, something that would separate Jesus from us, his brothers and sisters. Easter is not the celebration of something that Jesus did. It is the celebration of something that God did. God raised Jesus from the dead. What we celebrate today is a mighty act of God, the Living God, the God whose breath is Spirit. The God whose breath enlivens and inspires. The God who creates in the first place and is able to call the dead to life. We serve the Living God who is able beyond human possibility, beyond human extremity to say ‘yes’ when we’ve said our final ‘no.’ Let me say it one more time. Jesus died the way he died because he lived the way he lived, and he lived the way he lived because he believed the way he believed. He believed in a gracious God who had drawn near. A God whose presence was unbrokered, available to all. A God who included rather than excluded. A God of the abandoned. A God who forgives, full of grace. Jesus not only believed that, but he lived it out and proclaimed it, and in so doing he ran afoul of the established borders of society: religion, politics, all of those who had a vested interest in the status quo, and keeping things as they were. Jesus was a © Grand Valley State University   �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 2   destabilizer. Jesus ran counter to conventional wisdom. He challenged the assumptions on which people lived without ever examining them. Jesus destabilized the status quo, and they killed him. Easter is God’s reversal of that human judgment. Easter is the vindication of the faith of Jesus. In raising Jesus from the dead – and he really died – the creed says as much, for it says, “They buried him.” This was no masquerade. God called him to life from the dead in order to say Jesus was right, and Jesus’ way was God’s way, and Jesus’ life was the Life. And so we celebrate today the act of God in the vindication of the way of Jesus, and the faith of Jesus. Let me ask you a question for your Easter meditation. It’s a very important question. In the midst of all the beauty and wonder, the grand music, the lovely flowers, the festive occasion, which we experience just now, let me ask you this question. If the cross were the last chapter, would you follow Jesus still? If there were no Easter glory? If there were no grand triumph? If there had been no public vindication, would you follow the way of Jesus nonetheless? I suppose what I am really asking you is, “Why in the depths do you follow Jesus? Why do you call yourself Christian?” Is it because in all of the light and splendor of a moment like this we have that triumphant note, “The Lord is risen!” The one who said, “Because I live, you too shall live.” Is this then the way to victory and to triumph? Is it the guarantee of life beyond life and all of that? Do you follow Jesus for that reason? Then perhaps you will hesitate a bit as I raise that question to you. If the cross had been the last word, would you still follow Jesus? Would you still believe in that way, in that truth? I have been wrestling with that question, and my answer is, “Yes I would,” falteringly, too often half-heartedly, and always inadequately. But even if Good Friday were the last chapter I would want to live as Jesus lived, and believe as Jesus believed. Think about him for a moment again. He was a grand person. Think of the magnificence of his life. Think of the freedom with which he lived. Don’t you love him for the way in which he stared down all of the imposing structures of society? The way he challenged the conventional wisdom. The way he simply refused to be one more sheep in the mass. Don’t you love him for that freedom, for that courage? For that consistency. For that faithfulness that, even in the darkness of Gethsemane, could get out the words, “Nevertheless not my will but Thy will be done,” which was a commitment to the way that he had gone from the beginning. It was staying the course. It was being true to the vision. It was sealing what he believed with his very life. The compassion of the man! Breaking through the taboos of his day. Reaching out. Embracing the abandoned. Touching the leper. Gathering in the sick, the children. The humility of his life. Washing the feet of his disciples. Finally offering his life. Would you say ‘Yes’ to Jesus, even if the cross were the end? I would. I believe that to live that way carries its own reward and is an end in itself. I think that’s really the only way one can really follow Jesus. Not following him because of what he promises us. Not following him because of some external threat, as though there is some gun at my © Grand Valley State University �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 3   head if I don’t. Not following him out of a sense of obligation, but following him finally because I love him! And I want to be like him! I want my life from the inside to be what I see his life to be, no matter what the end is. I’d better not say that loosely, glibly, because to say that is to say ‘No’ to so much of my American, twentieth-century culture that has shaped me. I am more a product of my culture than a critic of it. It means saying ‘No’ to that precious American individualism over against the needs of community. Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to that wisdom of the street that says, “Take care of Number One.” Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to my consumerist culture that would acquire, and acquire, and secure. Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to the philosophy that winning is not only the best thing, but is the only thing. Would you follow Jesus if we had ended in the darkness of Good Friday at noon, with the thumping of the organ, and the forsakenness of the one who died the way he lived? Well! I anticipate your question. And perhaps your question would be, “Then doesn’t this make any difference? Then isn’t there any need for Easter? Isn’t this essential? Doesn’t this add anything?” And I would say, “Yes, it certainly does.” Easter is the foundation of hope in the midst of that struggle to follow the Way of Jesus in our world that crucifies him over and over again. In our world of Somalia’s and Northern Ireland’s and Bosnia’s, and Israel’s and Palestine’s, and Latin America’s, and poverty and sickness, and oppression and tyranny, and greed, and all of that. In the midst of that human scene, this gives us a ray of hope because it says to us that love will not finally be crucified. The things for which Jesus lived, and the things for which Jesus died, are the things that matter to the God who created them in the first place, the God who is able to speak a word that will raise the dead. Easter gives us hope so we might be faithful in following Jesus, where otherwise we could live only with despair, and we look at the victim and only promise more tragedy, with no alleviation of the awful darkness, which is so much a part of the human scene. If Good Friday were the last word, if the Cross were the last word, then history is a terrible tragedy. Then there is unrelieved suffering. Then there is nothing to scatter the darkness. Then I will be true to Jesus, and I would rather die as Jesus died, than to live the way the world tells me to live. But I would have nothing to say to all of those who suffered, and who continue to suffer. I would have nothing to say to those who bear the burden of the human story. Then the victim would always be victimized by the murderer. Then the violated one would always be trampled by the rapist. Then God or the powerful and oppressor, would always lord it over those oppressed and downtrodden. Then human history would be one unrelieved story of crucifixion. Then I would not know, I would not have a clue that there is something in this cosmic reality, some grace, some heart at the heart of things, some love that will not finally allow the darkness to prevail. I need Easter, lest I despair. I need Easter, lest the tragedy finally wear me down. I © Grand Valley State University �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 4   need Easter to keep on believing and trusting and hoping. I need Easter to keep on following. When the Romans decimated Jerusalem in the aftermath of the events that we celebrate today, a band of Jews fled south to the fortress of the Massada and they barricaded themselves in that almost impenetrable fortress. The Romans threw up great ramparts, great building projects in order finally to be able to assault that fortress, and when they finally succeeded they found that band of Jews had fallen on their own swords and taken their own lives rather than be taken. But in the ruins that you can visit even now, there is a room that was the synagogue where they worshiped. In that synagogue when the ruins were excavated they found a fragment of a manuscript. The manuscript was of the prophet Ezekiel. The fragment that they found was Ezekiel 37, read this morning “…a valley of dry bones exceedingly dry.” And the words of the Lord, “Son of man, can these bones live? Thou knowest, O Lord.” And the word of the Lord is prophesied to the bones and the wind blows, or the Spirit blows, and the bones take on flesh and are joined together, and the bones become a living army standing up, brought back to life from death. God’s possibility in the face of human impossibility. God’s people have always been a people of hope, even of joy because, in the face of every human circumstance, they have been able to say, “Nevertheless.” I would follow Jesus if Good Friday were all there were. But thank God there’s Easter Sunday. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c21b12681b83a601466472bbb20c4bd6.mp3 ad0097c6290260a401f7188d54c1b431 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 Easter Sunday Scripture Text Ezekiel 37:9, Romans 1:4, Mark 16:6 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-0-19930411 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-11 Title A name given to the resource The Faith of Jesus Vindicated Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 April 11, 1993 entitled "The Faith of Jesus Vindicated", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ezekiel 37:9, Romans 1:4, Mark 16:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Hope Nature of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c6899833d7f9455d3961ff65abe3882.pdf c1cf06394eab657545503a8adb082c7c PDF Text Text Smashing Idols – Again and Again From the series: The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Mark 3:5-6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent III, March 14, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …he was grieved at their hardness of heart…conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Mark 3:5-6 Jesus died the way he died, because he lived the way he lived. He lived the way he lived because of the faith that he had, because of his conception of God, his understanding of the nature of God, and the spirit and attitude of God. We are trying in these Lenten weeks to discern the faith of Jesus - Jesus as a believing person in the midst of this world. Because our concrete actions and our attitudes, our behavior, really finally stem from what we believe, deep down. And if we can get to the faith of Jesus, maybe we’ll understand something of the life of Jesus. But we might not want to do that. Because if we ever discovered it and ever truly followed it, we might end up as Jesus ended up, of course – crucified. He didn’t die in bed, remember. He was put to death. We are trying to see that larger canvas which reveals the faith that he had, leading to the life that he lived, bringing him to the death that he experienced. We are able to do that better today than probably any time in the last nearly 2000 years. It’s not easy to find a historical Jesus. There are volumes and volumes written about the quest for the historical Jesus. Particularly in the 18th century when the whole science of history arose, there was a great quest to find the Jesus of the Gospels. The historical methods that were used and the way the documents of the Gospels were treated led to a blind alley, a dead end. And then for a time the possibility of discovering anything about the historical Jesus was just given up. All we had was the Christ of the Gospels, the Christ of the New Testament Church. We couldn’t get back to history itself. The reason it’s not easy to get back to history is because you are talking about Gospel documents which were already many decades removed from the life of Jesus. No one followed Jesus around with a stenographer’s pad. And then of the manuscripts we have which record the early Gospel accounts, already removed by two or three decades or more from the event, the best manuscripts are out © Grand Valley State University   �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 2   another century or so (the earliest around 200 CE). And so, by that time, there was a lot of interpreting and a lot of shaping, because it was a very polemical period, it was a controversial period, and so it is not easy to find the historical Jesus. But I am saying to you that today we may have a better chance of getting some sense of the historical Jesus, the believing man, the Jew in the Judaism of his time, than has been true to this point. There are a number of recent studies out right now. One of the most significant is by John Dominic Crossan, a Roman Catholic scholar, who has written The Historical Jesus, a Story of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. It’s an excellent, scholarly work. Fascinating book. Not the kind of book you read for devotions for Lent. It’s a scholarly treatment. It assumes a lot of background. But there is kind of a neat image he uses for Jesus in his concrete life. He speaks about Jesus as “proclaiming the unbrokered presence of God.” The “unbrokered presence of God,” proclaimed by Jesus meant God’s presence, God’s nearness, God’s accessibility to anyone and everyone, everywhere, at all times was proclaimed. The “unbrokered presence of God.” You know what brokers are? They are people who don’t own anything, and don’t do anything, produce anything, they just make money on other people who do. (That’s supposed to be funny!) (Laughter) But I am glad there are brokers. I love brokers. Don’t leave, brokers, I’m going to redeem you yet. Because you see there are a lot of things that I want to do in my life and I don’t know how to do them. You know - detailed paper work, contracts, and knowledge I don’t have. But I want to get this thing effected, so what do I do? I call my broker. My broker does it for me. For a fee. But, it’s worth it. I get it off my back. Details I don’t have to worry about, get the job done, pay a little fee. I would rather pay a few bucks and get the job done for me. That’s what brokers do. Crossan says that Jesus “proclaimed the unbrokered presence of God.” The “unbrokered presence of God.” In other words, you don’t need me as a broker of religion. And as an ecclesiastical institution, you don’t need Christ Community. And we don’t need the Reformed Church in America. And we don’t even need all of the structures of the whole Christian Church because, according to Jesus, God’s presence is immediate - available - accessible. The “unbrokered presence of God!” Well, if he’s right, I am out of business. I mean, I work hard. You don’t really want to read all of the theology I do, do you? Do you want to worry yourself about it? Do you want to have miserable Saturday nights like I do? No! You would rather go out for dinner. Have a nice evening. Get up on Sunday morning, yawn, stretch, come here. And I do it for you. I work hard, and I earn my fee. But now, here comes Jesus, and he says, “All that isn’t necessary, folks. You really don’t need him.” Well, I can understand why they killed him. (Laughter) I am serious. That’s really what was going on. Because if you were a part of the religious establishment, if you were a part of the temple and the priesthood, and the sacrificial system, and the holy days, and all of that, plus everybody that got to © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 3   set up a hotdog stand outside the temple on special days and pay the fee for that. I mean, it was good for business! It was quite an institution! And anybody that threatens institutions like that is touching the economic life, and the social life, and the religious life of the community. And anybody who comes in with that kind of iconoclastic plan is probably going to pay for it with his life if he is making any kind of inroads at all. In the passage we read, if we had started earlier in the second chapter, about Jesus being in a house. You can’t get in the door, so some desperate friends of a paralyzed man chop a hole in the ceiling and they let their friend down, right in front of Jesus. He says, “Your sins are forgiven!” And they said, “Who is this - to make that kind of a claim? Only God can forgive sins.” He said to himself, “Well, you don’t think I can do that? Which is easier, to say that, or to actually make the man walk? Man, stand up.” The man stood up. But, you see, in the traditional establishment of things, there was a connection between sin and sickness, and you needed the whole priesthood, the whole mediation of the religious institution in order to provide the way by which sins could be repented of and forgiveness could be pronounced, and healing could be effected. But if you bypass that by taking a lame man into your presence and say, “Your sins are forgiven,” that undercuts the whole decent and orderly structure of things. They came to him and they said, “Your disciples don’t fast. Why don’t they fast?” Jesus played fast and loose with “fast.” He said, “They can’t fast when the bridegroom is there.” Because when you have a wedding reception, you don’t fast. At a wedding reception, you toast the bride and the groom, and you dance, and you have a wonderful party. Jesus was saying, “My presence is the presence of the Kingdom. God’s presence doesn’t need to be mediated here. And the time of the “unbrokered presence of God” here at this time, is not a time for fasting. There are not some little religious practices that you have to do, to say, “Pardon me, I am having a wonderful time, but I am going to take time off in order to do these little religious things.” Jesus said, “For goodness sakes, stay at the wedding reception.” And then, of course, there are the two instances in the third chapter about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is probably the finest gift that Judaism has given to the world. The gift of the day of rest, ceasing from labor, ceasing from figuring, planning, conspiring. Ceasing from everything, and simply being for 24 hours the presence of God. Great gift! And I am sure Jesus observed Sabbath. We have lost Sabbath. We don’t keep Sabbath any more - to our loss. But, even such a great gift as Sabbath can become a bondage, and it can become a barrier to doing what one needs to. In the case of the disciples, it was a humane thing to feed people. There are not some religious rules that need to be followed. If someone is hungry, for goodness sakes, eat! And in terms of the healing of the man with the withered hand, Jesus was angry. He was angry at their hardness of © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 4   heart. Paradoxically, religion can make people so hard of heart, hard of heart in the execution of their religious duties. Jesus said, “For God’s sake, forget it!” “Man, come here. Stretch out your hand.” He said, “Is it right to do good or ill on the Sabbath?” Certainly God is into doing good, into healing, into giving life. Well, the sixth verse of that third chapter says that they went out and began to conspire to kill him. Because those are just examples. Mark marshals them in one after another, in order to show that the whole presence of Jesus was a challenge to the religious establishment. It is not a case of where the Jews were bad people or that the New Testament gives them such a bad rap, but they were just people like us. They were simply the prisoners of a traditional religious pattern of things. They were caught up in the structure of the institution, and Jesus challenged the institution at its most basic level. He spoke of the “unbrokered presence” of God. He said, “You don’t need an institution. You don’t need a temple. You don’t need the priesthood. You don’t need me. I don’t have a franchise on the presence of God. God is such that God is available for everyone and anyone, every time, any time, everywhere.” Well, in saying so, he relativized the importance of the religious institutions and the religious functionaries. And so they killed him. I don’t really think though that Jesus was against religion in its institutionalized forms. I suppose Jesus knew what all of us know. Spirit always needs form. There have always been institutional forms, institutional expressions that have been the particularization and the concretization of the religious motivation, the religious quest. And, I think, that’s legitimate, necessary and good - until it becomes an end in itself and becomes a barrier to the free flow of the Spirit of God, and the love and grace of God in the world, as so often has been the case. You say, “Well, Jesus mediating the unbrokered presence of God to anyone, anywhere, any time – What about all of the statements of the New Testament that say things like ‘No one comes to the Father but by me,’ and ‘Jesus Christ the only mediator between God and humankind,’ and all that?” Well, I’ll tell you about all that in the New Testament. Do you know what the New Testament is? It is a collection of the documents of the early Christian Church. Now think with me for just a minute. What do you have in the New Testament? Do you have some objective, unbiased statement of timeless and eternal truth? No. You have in the New Testament a polemical document of an early community, which was very fragile, very vulnerable, weak, fragile, fledgling, insecure. It was trying to find its own identity over against this massive institution of Jewish religion out of which it comes. Jesus destabilized the temple. Jesus destabilized the priesthood. Jesus destabilized the whole Jewish system without, I think, intending to be anything else than a good Jew. But he destabilized it. And there were those who, after his death, believed he was with them still. They experienced his presence. And so unexpectedly, who would have believed that this rag-tag community might grow and become like a spreading flame through the Roman Empire? But in those © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 5   early decades they were seeking to find their identity over against this massive institution from which they had derived. They didn’t know if they were Jews or what. They still went to the temple. They still said their prayers. They still had their feast days. They were also followers of Jesus, thinking he was the Messiah. They were really in a transition period. They were about to jell, but they weren’t really yet what they were going to become. They didn’t know where they were going. But one thing they knew is that Jesus had been crucified by this religious institution and, over against that institution and its legalism, and its moralism and its oppressive tyranny, its domination of people, this community of followers of Jesus were saying, “No! Jesus is the Way.” It is really no wonder that the scribes and Pharisees come off pretty poorly here. You would almost think that they were some kind of demonic folk when, as a matter of fact, they were people just like us. And so, in this attempt to bear witness to their absolute conviction that Jesus was God’s presence here and that Jesus was indeed the way, the truth and the life, they put all their eggs in that basket, and these documents aren’t at all balanced objective accounts of what was, but they are the faith-ful witness of those who found everything focused in Jesus. And so, within a relatively short time, this infant community with all its vulnerability and fragility took on strength, numbers, power, form, structure. This infant Christian community, in the name of Jesus who destabilized the whole Jewish institution, found its sea legs and put stabilizers out and formed an institution over against Judaism, another brokerage house of religion, Christianity, just as much a brokerage house of religion as Judaism, and no more legitimate. By the year 312 CE, the Emperor Constantine made the Christian movement the established religion of the Roman Empire, an amazing success. And it was a fatal hour because now the state co-opted the Church, and the altar and the throne became one, coupling with faith the powers of state and religion to dominate people and control masses. Christianity had arrived in the world and it became exactly what Jesus had tried to smash in his own Judaism. So now we have not only Judaism, we’ve got another brokerage house. Merrill Lynch has got a real Paine ‘n Webber. (Laughter) Each one claiming to have the absolute truth. Each one claiming to have the only way. Each ostracizing the other and excommunicating the other. Each trying to penetrate the other side and bring it over and make it like itself. It is the tragic story of religion throughout 2000 years, and it had gone on, of course, before that. So, you see, it just may be that if Jesus came back now and looked at the Christian Church, he would shake his head and say, “I thought that’s what I died to prevent.” I was in a discussion group this week where I mentioned the fact that I grew up thinking that the whole globe was going to be Christianized, that there was going to be world evangelization – everybody would become Christian and then Jesus would come again. I don’t believe that any more. It could happen. You never say © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 6   never in history, but I don’t see the world becoming Christian. I see the resurgence of the great religions of the world and the absolute necessity of the religions beginning to talk to one another, because if we don’t the prophetic historical religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - are going to blow up the globe. Waco, Texas, the New York Trade Center, the killing outside the abortion clinic in the Panhandle of Florida – it’s all in the name of God, my friends. The historical religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - they are called prophetic religions, and someone in the discussion group said to me, “Well, religion needs to be institutionalized.” They said, “Christ Community is an institution.” I said, “Yeah, tell me about it, I know.” They said, “What do you see? What do you see?” I said, “I don’t know. But I do believe this, that the Christian Church, as it is currently organized into three great branches and the branch of which we are a part is fragmentized into hundreds of small little competing companies, brokerage houses.” They said, “We are all pouring energy into the survival of those institutions while the world is about to be blown up.” And, it seems to me what we need to do is align new alliances and new coalitions - the old ones aren’t working. And then someone told me a rumor that was circulating in Catholic circles. It was only a rumor he said, but he has some connections that make me think that there might be something to it. He said that the word out of Rome is that the present pope is rather seriously ill. I hope that’s not true, because I don’t wish him any ill, but certainly the present pope is to me the epitome of the barrier and blockage of what needs to happen in our world in terms of movement forward on a whole variety of issues. But, nonetheless, maybe he is ill. I don’t know. But, in Africa there is a black Cardinal who can speak Arabic and who has connections to Israel, who is being spoken about as the next Pope. And I began to dream. I began to think. You know, three years ago we would have said that the east-west ideological standoff was something that was seen to go on and on, and the arms race and the nuclear threat, and then suddenly out of the blue, to the amazement of the whole world, the candles were lighted and prayers were said, and the walls tumbled down and Eastern Europe began to unravel. And, of course, that creates its own set of problems but, nonetheless, there is more freedom and more potential for democratic humane existence in the world than we would have thought possible just three or four years ago. Things can happen. History is open. History is dynamic, and the Spirit of God moves through structures and sometimes structures that seem impregnable get blasted. Sometimes something happens and the kind of accommodation with all kinds of demonic compromise gets blown sky high and there is newness, and the new wine of the kingdom begins to flow. And I thought to myself, what would happen if there appeared on the scene someone with the charisma of a Jesus and the spirit of God who could say to the Christian religion, “Unwrap yourself. Go back to your founder. Go back to Jesus. Undo your trinity. Undo your Christology. Undo your elaborate theories of the © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 7   atonement. Go back to Jesus whom you rejected and see him as an advocate of the best of your covenant religion.” One who would say to Islam, “Look into the face of Jesus and see if Jesus is not really what you are all about.” You know my dream was that Jesus could become the Savior of the world in a way that I would never have dreamed. Jesus will not become the Savior of the world as the Christ, the exalted Christ of the Christian religion. But Jesus might just become the Savior of the world in the alchemy of God’s grace by the smashing of the respective religions in order that the truncated images of God represented in each one of them might unite to reflect that one true God, might somehow or other shine through the broken fragments into a newness and freshness that we have not yet dared to dream of. Wouldn’t that be something? I wonder if we would dare give up our Christianity for a world-saving fresh vision of the true and eternal God whose “unbrokered presence” would embrace one and all. You know when I went out to Brandeis last fall and I told you what I was going to suggest they consider: what might have happened if the Jews had not rejected Jesus; the Christians, Mohammed; the Romans, the Greek Orthodox, and you clapped. You applauded. I believe you are like people all over the world, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. I believe people all over the world like you, good people, spiritually hungry people, sincere people, morally serious people would just love for all the institutional trappings to get out of the way and that people would soften in order that you could all embrace your neighbors and we could all worship before the one God who was full of grace. It will take some idol smashing. Got your hammer ready? © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/363eda46c609f75c3ae851a70d0400be.mp3 d9705aae12a8714835acfaa79feb51df 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 Lent III Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Mark 3:5-6 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-0-19930314 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-14 Title A name given to the resource Smashing Idols - Again and Again Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 March 14, 1993 entitled "Smashing Idols - Again and Again", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 3:5-6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Inclusive Nature of Religion Unbrokered Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8ddb4fcfe8ff620604897964cc715049.mp3 ea8d6b5ceed9e09a0400b791a49a98b2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc2ff9517a8a56ed4bc0bbffc9eca7ac.pdf a498dba48a4234c1c3afe9adc1cac715 PDF Text Text Mission: Passion Unleashed From the series: On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Text: Isaiah 58:12; Luke 4:17-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany V, February 7, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon “You will be called the repairer of the breach, a the restorer of streets to live in.” Isaiah 58:12 “...The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him ... The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me...” Luke 4:17-18 On the threshold of the third millennium Christ Community is newly structured for a forward movement. We struggle with a fresh expression of Christian faith, seeking to translate the tradition in order that we might connect our faith with our human experience. This morning I want to call you to a new sense of mission, a new commitment to be the people of God. I call you to effect the purposes of God in the world as the agents of grace and reconciliation, bringing people together in the name of Christ our Lord. Mission: It has always been a part of the Christian tradition. Missio, the Latin word, means to send, to send out or to be sent. I want to suggest that we ought to be sent out with passion. Passion unleashed. Passion that is compelling emotional engagement with the task. I want Christ Community always to be passionate. Passionate about what we believe and passionate about that which we do in the name of Christ. No kind of routinized ritual, external form, dead-in-thewater, but passionate - with deep conviction, compelling conviction leading to compelling action with emotional engagement. It is that, I believe, to which we are called as the people of God. And as we stand on the threshold of the third millennium, God needs a people who will fearlessly, courageously, unstintingly, unrelentingly be there as a concrete community of love and grace, bringing peace and reconciliation to all people in the local community and throughout the world. I want to call you this morning to be a people unleashed for mission with passion. I want to call us as a community to be committed to the humanization of the world, to the humanization of society. © Grand Valley State University   �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 2   One of the nice things about having the Perspective class after worship is that I can clarify the fogginess of the sermon, and I can answer the question that I raise in the minds of some. I had a very good question raised to me last week, because I had suggested toward the end of the message that I was not so concerned that we make the world Christian as that we make the world human. And the question was asked, “Well, is that just humanism?” It’s a good question, and the answer is, no it is not. There is a kind of classic humanism that would be defined as over against God. Atheistic naturalist humanism would see human society and the world as a purely human project with no intervention and no involvement by a God if there was one. No, that’s not what I mean. I am thinking rather of the phrase of the Catholic theologian Hans Küng who said, “God’s cause is the human cause.” What I would love to call us to this morning is that we be the agents for the humanization of society, the humanization of the world, meaning that we seek to do that which would make for all people a fully human existence possible. So all people might be set free, set at liberty, the shackles off, all forms of human bondage removed so that all people in all sorts of conditions could move into the fullness of human existence as God intends. Jesus lived such an existence. In him, we believe, was full humanity modeled out for us. When I say that I believe the Church is called to work at the humanization of society, I mean that the church is that group of people who are called to seek to effect the purposes of God in human lives and in human society as a whole. That, to be sure, is a little different than the classic understanding of mission in the history of the Church. The modern missionary movement was initially born in the 19th century, although there has always been from the beginning this impulse to “go into all the world to preach the Gospel.” But the modern movement, the evangelization of the world, really had a new birth in the 19th century and the object there was to bring all of the world to Jesus Christ. It was world evangelization. There was a great missionary conference in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910 and a great missionary statesman named John R. Mott had a cry that really motivated the student population of the day: “The evangelization of the world in this generation.” There were always educational missions, and medical missions, and farm-agricultural missions which were the accoutrements to the missionary impulse, but the major focus of it was the proclamation of the Gospel, the goal of which end was to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. One rather contemporary missionary statement spoke of the missionary movement of our forbearers as a movement motivated because they could not conceive of people dying without Christ. D. T. Niles said, “In our generation it is more that we go because we cannot conceive of people living without Christ.” But, when I speak of the humanization of society, I have to admit to you - I want to acknowledge to you - that I am not speaking so much in that classic sense of trying to Christianize the world because I am not at all sure that we are called to Christianize the world in terms of bringing the world into the institutional © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 3   structures of the Christian church. I believe that we are there to witness to the whole world to the God to whom Jesus points us. It is the God of Jesus that we want to point all people to, and we want to do that by all means possible. I think that the missionary movement with all of its good intention and all of its sincerity, and all it has accomplished, nonetheless, because of the very institutionalization of the Christian faith, tended to become a rather arrogant and triumphalistic and imperialistic movement into other cultures. I must say that I don’t really believe, in spite of hundreds of years of witness and sincere effort, that we have done more than slightly dent a Muslim culture or an Oriental culture. Now in Africa today there is an astounding rate of conversion into the Christian church, but that is in a third world; that is not in the first world. The first world is secularized and sometimes that can perhaps dull our sense of the Christian mission. But let me make it clear. I believe that we are called to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ, pointing to the God of Jesus, the God that Jesus reveals, and we are to do that by all means possible. St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel by all means possible even in last resort with words.” The humanization of society is a Christian imperative, and I believe we are called to do that. Let me give you a little autobiographical sketch for a moment. When I came here in 1960 I wanted 50% of the budget to go to missions and 50% to stay at home. I was so young and so idealistic that I even turned down a raise. I refused a raise one year because I said, “if you will not go 50% I won’t take a raise.” One of the great pillars of the congregation looked at me and said, “Young man, you’ve got a family coming. Wise up. You’d better start thinking about retirement - it’s not too soon.” He was right. I was wrong. I was idealistic. I was going to change the world. And then I came back here in 1971 and I went with some of you over to the Institute for Successful Church Leadership where Bob Schuller told his story. When he arrived in California, an old pastor took him aside and said, “If you want this new church to prosper, use this formula: give 50% away and put 50% back in.” And Schuller was smarter than I was. He said, “No, I’m going to give only 10% away. But we’re going to build a missionary center right here because mission is where you are.” He said, “You know if I give 50% away I’ll never build a base here, and I’ll never be able to give much more than I give the first year. But if I build a bigger base here I’ll be able to give ten times more than what 50% would have been.” His math was right, and reality has proved him right. I came back and his vision became our vision - this was to be the place of our mission. Not to neglect the world, but to begin here and to build here a center of creative Christian faith which would be a fruitful movement issuing out of this very place. For two decades we have been working at that. We’ve been stretched. We’ve really always been reaching beyond our means - always dreaming a little bit beyond what we could possibly do. But I think that it’s time for us to be fully unleashed. To unleash our passion in the mission of Jesus Christ here, in the nation, and in the world. Not in order to © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 4   make the world Christian, but in order to humanize the world, transform it so that it might be as the God we have found in Jesus would have it be. That’s the prophetic word I hear here. Jesus stood in the prophetic tradition. Jesus was a prophetic, charismatic figure. The world evangelization, the institutionalization of the church was down the line. But if we really hear what we heard this morning, then God was saying to that Old Testament people a long time ago, “Don’t get all caught up in your rituals, in your church structures, in your sacrifices, in your priesthood and all that business, because I don’t really care about that. If you want to do that, you ought to do that because it can help you be what you ought to be. But you see, religion is never an end in itself. The practice of religion is never an end in itself. Worship, devotion, ritual, liturgy - whatever it may be – is not an end in itself. It is to imbue in us the depths of the mystery of God in order that out of the experience of worship, out of the experience of the reality of God we might be galvanized into significant and meaningful living in the world – significant human living in the world, and the humanization of the world. Old Judah said, “Hey, what’s up. We are doing all this sacrificing and incense and candles, and all of that, and you don’t seem to heed.” And God says, “Is that why you fast? You want to mortify yourself? I’ll tell you what mortification I want. Put your life on the line out there in the community: feed the poor, give shelter to the homeless, clothe the naked, take them into your home. And then call and I’ll answer.” The prophet of our reading said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me. The spirit has anointed me to proclaim good news.” Jesus came to his home synagogue and he read that word aloud to his home congregation, “The spirit has anointed me.” That’s what Christ means, the anointed one - “I am anointed to proclaim good news, relief to the captive, healing to the broken, setting the prisoner free.” They said, “My, that fellow really speaks quite well. Isn’t that Joseph’s son?” Sure enough, Jesus, Joseph’s son – that’s who it was. But you see he had been on the outskirts of Israel, on the outskirts of God’s people. He had mingled with those who were outsiders and he had done some healing and they had heard about that. And so he knew that underneath that first blush of enthusiasm there was a kind of hostility brewing because Jesus had the audacity to consider the outsider also embraced by God’s love and grace. And so he said to them, “Let me remind you of your own tradition. Do you remember the instance of the famine, when Elijah was a prophet? To whom was the prophet called? To no one in Israel, but to a widow, a woman, an outsider in Zarephat. And what about Naaman? What about Naaman, the leper? No leper in Israel was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian was cleansed. You see, God has always been concerned about the outsider. My ministry is to all people, and if that offends you, I’m sorry.” Well, it offended them alright. They said, “Let’s throw him over the ledge. Let’s do away with him.” There was wrath and anger, and hostility that are so often in religious people - Christian people. And Jesus ran afoul of it, and everyone who has had the audacity to stand in the prophetic © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 5   tradition has run afoul of it because it is a very human characteristic to turn religion in upon itself and make it self-serving, when actually God would have God’s people turn inside out, to live on behalf of those who are on the outside, to let them know that they are not on the outside. The old philosophy of mission was to go to the outsider to bring them in. But, with all my heart, I believe we ought to go to the outsider to tell them they are already in. That’s the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ. Not to make them like us. Not to force them into our structures, into our institutions, but to tell them of the promiscuous grace of a God that already embraces them, and that has come to a particularly full focus in Jesus Christ our Lord. Not to make them Christians like we are, but to point them to the marvelous God to whom Jesus points us. That’s the mission to which we are called, and I am ready for this place to be unleashed for such a mission, laced with passion. You know a couple of weeks ago I was out at the Crystal Cathedral at a conference of churches uniting for global mission, which is the movement that Bob Schuller is hoping to get going. It’s a rather loose affiliation of congregations - a congregationally based movement with very little administration and bureaucracy, but the ability to move immediately with flexibility into opportunities for mission. When he was negotiating the Hour of Power in Soviet television, they said to Bob Schuller, “Here is 50,000 acres of land. Could you make it productive for us? We will give it to you if you can bring us tractors. Bring us seed. Bring us know-how.” When I was in Chicago last summer at the Churches Uniting meeting, David Schouts who has preached for us in the past, of the Hinneton Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis, volunteered to head up the Russian farm project. Just a couple of weeks ago in California, David Schouts reported on that project, and he has got Ralph Hostadler who was the CEO of Land of Lakes, retired, who has taken over that project and has taken all kinds of people and resources. Two young men from the Soviet Union, one a member of the parliament, is helping him organize a cooperative project sponsored by CUGM, Churches Uniting for Global Mission, on behalf of the Soviet people. They are helping them gain some knowhow as to how to make farms productive and how to distribute what they produce. Those kinds of opportunities, I believe, are out there in our world. These are the kinds of things we have to do. Let God take care of what God would do with those Russian people. But for God’s sake, let’s get them some grain and some cattle, and get them fat. Then on Wednesday morning, the last morning, there was a black speaker named Leon Sullivan. I hadn’t really heard of him, but when he began to speak, (this man must be in his middle seventies) - I had to look up to him, a big man. When you walked by him it was like there were all kinds of vibrations. This was somebody, and when he spoke I learned he was a Baptist preacher from Philadelphia. And could he preach! Oh, my goodness, he could preach! I learned that he was Leon Sullivan of the Sullivan Principles. The Sullivan Principles were written by Leon Sullivan when he was on the board of General Motors. He came © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 6   back from South Africa and he said, “In South Africa when American corporations do business, they must dismantle Apartheid in the workplace.” And it happened. The American corporations in South Africa for some years now have operated on the Sullivan Principles. And this was that Leon Sullivan. He had just flown in from Brussels where he had been meeting with the economic community in Europe. He had just met with Helmut Kole and Francoise Mitterand. And he is all turned on about Africa, because right now Leon Sullivan is in the business of raising enough money to send a thousand teachers a year for the next four years to Africa. It only takes $10,000 to support one teacher. He sees the need for education, to teach children. He is looking for 1000 teachers for the next four years. He said (There was a group there of 40-50 pastors, I suppose.), “How many of you could support one teacher - $10,000 for the year? Raise your hands. “Should I have raised my hand? Well, should I have? Would you also keep paying the building debt off? I mean, don’t give me the $10,000 out of your envelope! I need my salary! (Laughter) But, have you got some more? Would you dig deeper if I had raised my hand? Would you? And I thought to myself, “You’ve really changed.” In 1960 when I first came to this place I would have wanted to raise money to send a missionary to tell them about Jesus. Now I want to raise money to send a teacher to educate them so that they might feel the presence of a God whom Jesus incarnated. Someone in the congregation sent me an article and said, “This might be interesting in light of your present series.” It was an article about the Arlington Street Church in Boston, a church that is called “The Conscience of Boston.” It’s a church that has been a center of social activism and social protest for 200 years. It is the place where Unitarianism was born. William Ellery Channing was a great minister there for 40 years. He had the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson in his congregation. He had the best and the brightest, and the mightiest of New England there. It became a significant center of Christian witness on all kinds of issues that divided and tore society apart. And the Arlington Church was always on the “wrong” side. It was the place where the Abolitionist Movement to dismantle slavery found its headquarters. In the 60s it was the place where William Sloan Kaufman and Benjamin Spock invited the young men of Harvard and Yale to burn their draft cards in protest against the Vietnam War. It was the place in the subsequent decade where every social cause found expression. Its present senior pastor is Kim Crawford Harvey, the first woman senior pastor, who is lesbian. You notice I say she is lesbian. She is not a lesbian. Because people are not gay or lesbian, people are human beings. They are people. Their orientation may be one way or the other, but you don’t refer to me as a heterosexual. I am a person. The Arlington Street Church has found a new issue that needs addressing. There is a great flourishing congregation again, with a budget bigger than it has been for 20 years because they have addressed this issue, which is tearing our society apart. © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Randall Terry is the head of a movement he calls Resistance . You see him on television on Christian broadcast channels (that I don’t watch), eliciting from people their baser motives, creating fear and division and trying to raise money. He was quoted as saying that if he had scripted Bill Clinton’s first two weeks himself, he could not have done a better job. He’s just delighted at all of the controversy around the White House because fundraising letters are in the mail, and he calls it a bonanza. I read the article on the Boston church, and I’m not a very pious guy and I don’t lay a lot of stuff on you, but when I was done, my eyes were moist and I said, “Dear God, I would that Christ Community would be a community of such integrity that it would provide a shelter for all sorts and conditions of human beings, that would create a space where people could be together, where there would be the acceptance of diversity, the encouragement of dialogue, the embrace of grace, and a love that was a true reflection of the love of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” It seems to me, in the words of the title of a book by James Davison Hunter, that in the midst of this time of “Culture Wars,” this world, this nation, needs a people who will be a voice for reconciliation, who will seek to bring people together, who will seek to honor every person’s dignity, who will guard the dignity of every person, and will create a place for people to be fully human in the worship and the service of God. I don’t know why churches, why religions, seem to breed the kind of hostility that in Nazareth wanted to kill Jesus, and did kill Jesus. But I know this, that in the face of Jesus I want us to be something other. I want us to be full of love, dripping with compassion, able to deal honestly with every social issue. I want us to be civil and committed - a place of light, love, healing. Dear God, wouldn’t that be great! Wouldn’t that be great! © 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 V Series On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Scripture Text Isaiah 58:12, Luke 4:17-18 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-0-19930207 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Mission: Passion Unleashed Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 February 7, 1993 entitled "Mission: Passion Unleashed", as part of the series "On the Threshold of the Third Millennium", on the occasion of Epiphany V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 58:12, Luke 4:17-18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Grace Inclusive Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/522c00faa76359d3e335b5d60cf55745.mp3 a70fd9576c9181f907103cc7e0de0d92 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a15109431c6107731e66e49e8e538e64.pdf 5da2c0dd39decccba5353c320e7d5285 PDF Text Text He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! From the sermon series: The Human Face of God Text: John 14:19 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Easter Sunday, April 19, 1987 Transcription of the spoken sermon Because I live, you too shall live. John 14:19 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!" This is the Lord's Day, the Lord's Day of which every first day of the week is a joyful celebration. This is Easter; Christ is risen from the dead. The word from the Gospel for our celebration today is Because I live, you too shall live. It is a simple text; just seven words. You can carry it home with you; you can take it with you through Eastertide; you can take it with you throughout all the seasons of your life; it will give you confidence in your youth, courage in life's middle years, peace at the end; you can take this text to your death, repeating it as you move through the valley of the shadow, into the momentary darkness and into the brightness of the light that will greet you, light streaming from his countenance who spoke this simple, straightforward word. Jesus said: Because I live, you too shall live. Today we focus sharply on the very center of our Christian faith and hope. On Easter we celebrate and rejoice in the final Truth, the last word of our faith: He lives, we live, Alleluia! Today we celebrate the center from which our every Christian celebration stems, the reason why there is any cause at all in this world, in our human condition, to celebrate. Let me set forth but two thoughts around which to center our Easter celebration: the foundation of our celebration, and the reality that we celebrate. © Grand Valley State University   �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The Foundation The foundation of our Easter celebration is the truth clearly and simply set forth in our text, the claim of Jesus, "I live." That is the great Easter reality. Jesus lives. It is the proclamation of the Gospel story. It was the overwhelming revelation to Mary in the Garden when, in gentle grace, he called her by name. It is the declaration of St. Paul in perhaps the earliest Easter document, the first Corinthian letter, where he declares, ... the truth is, Christ was raised to life. In simplest, most concise terms, Jesus says, I live. Perhaps you were surprised to find the Easter text taken from the Last Discourse with its setting at the Last Supper. That discourse begins with the 13th chapter of John, the moving scene of last supper during which Jesus girded himself with a towel and washed his disciples' feet. Death was at the door; Judas was dismissed. John tells us movingly, "It was night." It was in such a setting that the words of our text were uttered. They appear in a paragraph where Jesus is preparing the disciples for his absence. He assures them that they will not be left desolate, bereft; rather, he will come back to them. Then we hear him say, Because I live, you too will live. How are we to understand these words placed by John in this solemn setting on the eve of crucifixion? Was Jesus aware of Easter before ever he endured Good Friday? Traditionally, the Church has attributed such foreknowledge to him but, I think, wrongly. One thing we can be quite certain of: Jesus knew the end had come; his "hour" had arrived. And further, we can be quite certain that he was confident that God would effect His purposes through life or death. And further, should it be death, still Jesus placed his trust in the Father. But if you ask why I choose a text from the Last Discourse as an Easter text, let me remind you that the whole Gospel and each of the four gospels are PostEaster texts in their entirety. If, as we assume, John's Gospel is the latest of the Gospels to appear, then the Christian community had been living in the light of Easter for several decades. By this time the whole of Jesus' life and all the words remembered that he spoke were understood in the light of Easter. A study of the Last Discourse will show that it is really made up of several pieces of tradition. If, for example, you compare John 13:31 - 14:31 with John 16:4b-33, you will find that they are parallel passages, no doubt remembrances of the same © Grand Valley State University �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   discourse of Jesus stemming from different circles and different times in the developing tradition. There are commentators who go so far as to call these discourses Post-Easter conversations of the risen Christ with his disciples. That is probably not the case, but there is no doubt that these chapters contain various time perspectives and some of the statements appear to be made in the light of the Easter experience and the presence of the Spirit. They reflect the reality of the Post-Easter Christian community. The only point I wish to make out of all of this is that what in the chronology of the Gospel of John appears to be a pre-Easter statement is really a Gospel proclamation in the wake of the Easter experience. Raymond Brown, in his great commentary on John, writes, Although he speaks at the Last Supper, he is really speaking from heaven; although those who hear him are his disciples, his words are directed to Christians of all times. The last discourse is Jesus' last testament: it is meant to be read after he has left earth. Yet it is not like other last testaments, which are the recorded words of men who are dead and can speak no more; ... the Last Discourse has been transformed in the light of the resurrection and through the coming of the Paraclete into a living discourse delivered, not by a dead man, but by the one who has life ... (p. 582) C.H. Dodd writes: It is true that the dramatic setting is that of the night in which he was betrayed, with the crucifixion in prospect. Yet in a real sense, it is the risen and glorified Christ who spoke. Brown explains this rather strange mixture of present and future as follows: The Last Discourse explains the significance and implications of the greatest of Jesus' deeds, namely, his return to the Father; but it precedes what it explains. The reason ... is easy to see: it would be awkward to interrupt the action of the passion, death, and resurrection, and it would be anticlimactic to place so long a discourse after the resurrection. (p. 581) Having explained how such a statement as our text appears in a pre-Easter setting, I want now to examine the foundation of our celebration - Jesus' declaration, I Live. Who makes this claim? It is Jesus, the man of Nazareth whose passion we have traced in these past weeks of Lenten observance. It is Jesus our brother, flesh of © Grand Valley State University �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   our flesh and bone of our bone. It is Jesus, the human covenant partner of the faithful covenant-keeping God. It is Jesus whom Paul calls the last Adam in contrast to the first Adam. In sum: resurrection happened to a fully human person; it was God's mighty act, but the action was worked on Jesus, a human person who had been "made like these his brothers of his in every way," to quote the writer to the Hebrews from whom we took our text on Passion Sunday. Our Lenten pilgrimage began around the Table and the text affirmed the mystery of our salvation: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." God was in Christ. God was in this thing from the beginning, from eternity, in the conception and birth, in the life and in the death, but the one in whom God was fully present and active was the man Jesus. Our whole understanding of Jesus, of God's action in him, of the salvation accomplished through him comes from the New Testament, all of which was written a good while after that first Easter - a perspective from which the Early Church was fully convinced that God was in this thing. In order to witness to that Truth and to proclaim that Truth, Jesus was given every conceivable title of honor and dignity. There was no doubt that God was fully present to, active in, working through Jesus and when the creeds were formulated in the subsequent centuries, the way the Church gave expression to its understanding was to point to Jesus and say, True God, true man. And in the history of the Church, the "True God" soon overshadowed the true man. But we have followed a different tack these Lenten weeks. We have attempted to see him "from below" in the genuine human existence he lived out. We have attempted to see him as our brother - in fear and trembling before the "hour," determined fully to follow the will of the Father in costly obedience, setting us an example that we should follow in his steps. This Jesus: made in every way like us, the Jesus whom Mary did not know how to love, the Jesus who wrestled in anguish only finally to say, "Thy will be done," the Jesus who with disarming vulnerability faced down the alignment of worldly power determined to maintain its position by fear, coercion and intimidation. If we have done justice to the portrait of the man as the New Testament still portrays him, even through the overlay of deity ascribed to him, then Easter is really something to shout about because then a man has risen from the dead, then a human person has conquered death through the mighty power of God. Now, that's a miracle! © Grand Valley State University �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 5   This is no God-man with an ace up his sleeve who couldn't die anyway because he was God. Don't tell me about a God-man whom death could not conquer. That would be no miracle. Then Jesus was only a masquerade. Then he seemed human, but was not really our brother. Then one can say God was here and death could not touch him, but one cannot say a fully human person was here and he conquered death by the power of God, Whose will he fully followed and to Whose care he trustingly committed himself. The glory of Easter is that God raised up one like ourselves, that in a fully human existence, death has been conquered. Jesus said, "I live." That is more than I exist; that is, "I am alive with the vitality of God, the source of life, and consequently, because I live, you, too, shall live!" The Reality We Celebrate The reality we celebrate today is that we, too, shall live. That is, that we are enlivened with the vitality of the resurrected Christ and that we now are alive with the life of God and we shall move through the moment of death into a fuller, richer dimension of life forevermore. The biblical term, the great theme of John's Gospel, is Eternal Life – life in a new dimension. Union with Jesus through faith was for John the union with God that was the source of life in a new dimension – eternal life – a present possession and an even more wonderful reality yet awaiting us beyond the terminus of death. You, too, shall live. That is the transforming consequence of the great Easter event. He lives, we live, Alleluia! Again, let me stress, we are not speaking of the mere perpetuation of life, the mere extension of some kind of biological existence. It is not simply to have more of living "at this poor dying rate." Although there is a strong, natural drive to live, to keep alive, it is also true that life can become a burden. Last evening my aunt told me of an uncle who said to her yesterday, "How I wish the Lord would take me home." That is not a rare desire. He, who was full of life and loved to travel and loved to have half a dozen children crawling over him at one time, has been wounded by a stroke. Emotions are out of sync, the mind goes out of focus, the motor skills are damaged, and he who always cared for others is now the object of care, handicapped, crippled, a bird with broken wing whose song is silenced. You, too, shall live! © Grand Valley State University �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 6   But not in the limitation, brokenness and tragedy of this present experience. We shall LIVE; that is, we are now and we shall be more so, alive with the very life of God, this vitality by which he powerfully raised Jesus from the dead. In the first letter of John, the wonder of what we are now and the anticipation of what we shall be is beautifully experienced. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God; and such we are now and we know not what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Now! The present possession of life is the gift of the risen Lord and there is still more to come. In an Easter letter from prison, Bonhoeffer contrasts Socrates and Jesus. Socrates mastered the art of dying. Jesus conquered death. The first is within human capacity; the latter implies resurrection. The Easter message is a message of radical renewal. What we celebrate today is not just the return of a dead person to life, but the death of death, the conquest of death, the last evening and therefore the triumph of grace in the whole cosmos, the very victory of God over every obstacle, all darkness, every tragedy and all suffering. The resplendent strains of triumph reverberate down the post Easter decades of the Early Church. Paul writes nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He breaks out in triumphant acclamation, Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Socrates mastered the art of dying. One of philosophical bent can come to terms with almost any situation or condition. One can, with discipline and concentration and contemplation, come to a measure of peace in any storm - at least some seem to; that was true of Socrates - he mastered the art of dying. But Jesus conquered death. Socrates calmly drank the hemlock. Jesus anguished before the moment of evil's assault. Jesus wept. Jesus cried for release. Jesus felt utter desolation. Socrates died; nothing changed. Jesus died and then God changed everything. Jesus conquered death through the mighty power of God and therefore it is he who addresses us on each recurring Lord's Day, each First Day of the Week, with the assuring words, © Grand Valley State University �He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Because I live you, too, shall live. We shall live, my friends - live beyond a mean and selfish extension of this present scene; live beyond the dis-ease, the restless anxiety, the broken down and disappointed hope; live beyond the gaping wounds of denial and betrayal; live beyond the weakness of our mortal bodies vulnerable to sickness and crippling disability. We shall live in love in communion with Jesus, in union with God in the eternal praise of His 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 Easter Sunday Series The Human Face of God Scripture Text John 14: 19 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-0-19870419 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-04-19 Title A name given to the resource He Lives, We Live, Alleluia! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 April 19, 1987 entitled "He Lives, We Live, Alleluia!", as part of the series "The Human Face of God", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 14: 19. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Easter Followers of Jesus Joy Resurrection Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/49b37406d73bb007eec04486186eda0d.mp3 179fb396a591512ec869c647f7e3542a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4b28b7c730b27243959ed572a6e4e78e.pdf d8f9334cad8bbd8293e41b4374ae2900 PDF Text Text Following in His Steps From the Lenten sermon series: The Human Face of God Text: I Peter 2:21 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent III, March 22, 1987 Transcription of the spoken sermon Christ suffered on your behalf, and thereby left you an example; it is for you to follow in His steps. I Peter 2:21 God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. That profound and mysterious statement from the Apostle Paul sums up very much the focus of this season, as we look at the human face of God by focusing on the face of Jesus Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself. That is the mystery of our salvation. And we noted last week that it was Jesus' intention from the beginning, from the dawning of his own consciousness, of his own calling fully to follow the will of God. His was an intentional obedience. It was an intentional obedience throughout the days of his life, and his death was simply the consequence of the life that he lived. And so, the life becomes a pattern for those who would follow him, for those who would in our day become contemporary disciples. The shape of contemporary discipleship is something that each of us must determine for his own life. The shape of contemporary discipleship will not be the same for us all, for we are not the clones of Jesus, but we are called to follow Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus, living out the vision with which our own lives are stirred and fascinated, and only when we're living out of our own vision will we have the inward strength and the power to live truly according to those best insights and that highest calling that we have sensed as our lives have been exposed to Jesus, who brings us to God. And this morning the text from that first letter of Peter, the second chapter in the 21st verse, where Peter tells us that Jesus had given us an example He suffered for us, giving us an example that we should follow in his steps. Following Jesus is our theme this morning. Following in his steps. That word from Peter inspired a nineteenth-century preacher, Charles Sheldon, to write a little book which has been published and republished and republished. It's called In His Steps. Many of you have read it. If you haven't read it, you ought to read it, even though it has all of the odors of the nineteenth century and is definitely a © Grand Valley State University   �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 2   time piece; nonetheless, the impact of its message continues to come through very powerfully. A rather sophisticated pastor in a rather sophisticated congregation on Saturday was busily engaged in his sermon preparation for Sunday, when a poor, malnourished beggar appeared at his door seeking help. And of course, the pastor, having in mind all of his people on Sunday and his heavy responsibility, was unable to respond to the need, and turned him away. And he preached about following Jesus that next Sunday morning, when the man, at the conclusion of the message, appeared in the sanctuary and raised the question, in his rags, in his pitiable condition, "I wonder what it means to follow Jesus?" And, of course, the pastor, not being totally lost, felt the impact and the guilt of his own neglect and called for those who would join with him in a new adventure of discipleship and a band of disciples in that congregation began a year's experiment in which they determined in their work and in their play, in their community life, in their family life, in the totality of their lives they would do nothing, make no decision before they asked the question, "What would Jesus do?" And the story narrated in the book is the story of a community transformed by a band of people asking that question and responding as best they could answer it. A college president getting involved in municipal election, dealing with a blight in the community; a corporate executive, discovering corruption in the corporation, exposing it and resigning rather than being a part of it; the newspaper editor changing the perspective with which news was reported. Great opposition was engendered, obviously, but transformation happened, as well, because there was a band of people who began to ask, in every situation of life, "What would Jesus do?" And the inspiration for that, of course, was our text, “Christ has given you an example that you should follow in his steps.” Following Jesus. Ernie Campbell, a former pastor of Riverside Church in NYC, wrote an article a few years ago based on a sermon that he had preached, "Following Jesus or Believing in Christ," and he made an interesting point, that when he was a young person in communicant's class, the question that was asked by the Elders of the church was whether he believed in Christ. And when he declared himself to be a candidate for ministry, the question was asked him, Do you believe in Christ? And when he was ordained to the ministry, the question was asked, Do you believe in Christ? And every time he was installed in another congregation, the question was asked, Do you believe in Christ? And the answer always was, Absolutely, yes, with all my heart. But he makes the point that in all of those situations throughout the whole of his life, the question was never put to him, Are you following Jesus? It is possible to believe in Christ without following Jesus. So, what is it to follow Jesus? To follow Jesus is not simply to imitate Jesus. Otherwise, we'd all have to don bathrobes and sandals and become itinerate, wandering teachers. The point © Grand Valley State University �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 3   is not to imitate Jesus in the 20th century because we don't want to simply duplicate, nor would it be possible to duplicate the actions, the decisions of Jesus out of the 1st century, transported wholesale into the 20th century. But to follow Jesus must be to follow him in terms of his spirit, in terms of his attitude, in terms of his response to God and his response to the human situation, to determine in our context what Jesus would do, given what we know about him from the Gospel portrait of him. To follow Jesus in our day, we will have to learn who the enemies are that we are called to love, and where the hungry are that we're called to feed, and where the broken and the lost are that we're called to communicate and mediate the grace of God. The shape of discipleship in our day will be a shape that must be determined by every one of us, and we must all live out our own vision. We are not the clones of Jesus, but we are the followers of Jesus, and in this Lenten pilgrimage we are attempting this Spring to come face to face with the call of Jesus Christ to follow him and to determine what the shape of contemporary discipleship would be - for you and for me. Jesus gave us an example, says Peter, and we are to follow in his steps. If you read that word in its context, you will find that it's a rather foreign word to us, a rather alien context to us. There' s a word about being subject to all human institutions which is in the paragraph before I began to read, and that word was addressed to a largely slave church, and the point of Peter's counsel there is that the slave was to live out his life in the parameters of that servitude in a way that would give honor to Jesus Christ. That was the specific counsel. Now, you can't translate that literally into the 20th century where we become the disciples of Jesus, free people in a democratic nation, the most powerful nation of the earth. Some translation has to take place there, obviously. We know that there is a time when we cannot simply blindly submit. There is a time when, for conscience' sake, in the cause of justice and righteousness, because of the inspiration of Jesus Christ, we must stand up and say no. But, Peter's counsel, in that context, was appealing to those slaves (and there were 60 million slaves in the 1st century, in the Roman Empire) – his counsel to people in that context was to win honor to God by their honorable conduct and their nobility of spirit. He addresses the subject of slavery and their attitude toward their masters. And the Gospel has been criticized because it took nineteen centuries before the question of slavery was finally settled. Once again, the institution of slavery was undercut by the Gospel because masters and slaves were alike called to respond to every human being as a human being. A slave in the early centuries was a thing, not a person, and masters were given counsel as well as the slaves, but, to be sure, the institution of slavery was not attacked. What the Gospel addressed was that inner servitude of the human heart and soul, not the external condition. That came later as an outworking of the implication of the Gospel. A little further on, after we stopped reading, there is counsel to wives and to husbands, and I didn't read that because I didn't want all the wives to walk out, mad this morning. © Grand Valley State University �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 4   You can read it on your way home, but I would suggest that you don't pick it up for Sunday dinner devotions. The model there is Sarah who called Abraham Lord, and went wherever he went. Marvelous! Only it doesn't work anymore. The whole context, the whole passage needs to be translated, because, again, it was a very specific word addressed to a very specific people at a very specific time. But even there we can get the drift, we can listen to the text long enough in order to determine that the call to us out of that word is to follow Jesus in the 20th century in our context, in our history, in our culture, in our society, in our community, in our families. And the spirit of Jesus Christ, that spirit that comes through throughout the New Testament, is a spirit to inform us and to inspire us and to empower us, as we seek to be contemporary disciples of Jesus. Peter says that Jesus is our example. When he was abused, he didn't retaliate. When he suffered unjustly, he didn't respond in anger. When he was crucified, in what must be the apex of human gracefulness, he said to the Father, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." In Jesus there was this masterful freedom that we noted last week, this magnificent freedom, self-mastery, inward strength which enabled him to be in command in every situation because he was totally submissive to the will of the Father. Because he lived before the face of God, he feared no human institution and could be coerced by no human pressure group. Jesus, we noted last week, did not fit anywhere. There was no ideological group that could co-opt him for their cause; there was no well-meaning group that could, somehow or other, engage him and use him for their own ends. Jesus was sold out to God and, consequently, he walked with a masterful freedom in relationship to all human institutions and groups. Jesus was his own person because he was God's person, and in his willingness to suffer and to die, he has left an example to all who would follow him to adopt his spirit and mode of behaviour, although the particular response in any given situation will have to be determined by that vision that is dawned upon any individual human heart. This week as I was reflecting on this, I thought of Bonhoeffer. I always have to pull my Bonhoeffer down during Lent. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was martyred in 1945 as a consequence of having joined in an assassination plot to do away with Hitler during the Nazi terror. His Letters and Papers From Prison, you know, are probably the favourite spiritual testament of my life, and so I always bring him down and refresh myself again on the marvelous way in which he responded to his call to discipleship in that very critical period in our own century. And I was reading again in his biography that in 1939, when he had visited this country, he wrestled for a month with the question of whether to return to Germany or not. He was at Union Seminary in New York City. Reinhold Neibuhr had invited him to come, and Hitler was right at the apex of his power and his ravishing at that time. And friends of Bonhoeffer pleaded with him to remain in this country. He was a brilliant theologian. He was a passionate Christian. He had this tremendous potential, and they pled with him to stay here in order that he might be spared and saved for a full life, a useful life for decades to come. © Grand Valley State University �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 5   In 1939, he took the last boat for Europe, for he said, "I may not participate in the upbuilding and restoration of my people after this terrible conflagration if I stay here in security, while they are suffering. I must join in solidarity with my people at this time, if I would participate in the new day that will dawn." And he said, "I know not what choice others may make, but for me, I must will the downfall of my own nation that Western civilization may prevail, for to will the success of my nation is to will the devastation of civilization." A hard choice! You see, the context of our text says, "Be subject to every human institution." But Bonhoeffer said, "There is presently in Germany a governmental institution that is an instrument of evil, and I must oppose it." His discipleship took a form in contrast to the counsel of Peter in a different context of history, and yet, I believe, in response to that very central appeal of our text to follow in the steps of Jesus. For Jesus was not a kind of a passive, weak, simpering, non-entity. Jesus was strong, and Jesus was free, and Jesus actively opposed what was wrong. Last week I mentioned Andre Trocmé, the French Huguenot pastor, who in La Chambon the French village in South France, created the village as a refuge for Jewish refugees who defied the French Vichy government that was the instrument of the Gestapo, who defied their order to turn over the Jews. However, Trocmé, in 1939, when Bonhoeffer was going back to Europe, wrote in his own diary, "Should I go and infiltrate the Nazi organization, that I might assassinate Hitler?" Trocmé’s mother was German; he spoke German and French with equal ease, he could just as well have slipped across the border. He was a very dynamic, powerful person; he could very well have gotten himself into that organization. In 1939 he actually put in his diary, "Should I go and do it, in order to stop what must be this ravage of darkness that is encompassing the continent?" He said, "No. That course is not open to me. To do so would be to separate myself from Jesus." In 1944, Bonhoeffer made the conscious decision to join a small group of conspirators who determined that the only solution was the violent end of Hitler. Now, it's so fascinating to me – here you have two theologians, two pastors, two passionate men, two men of great loving heart, of great energy, of great intellect, and both of them actively engaged, both of them proactive because of their discipleship of Jesus Christ, who came to a different conclusion as to whether or not to take an action of violence against Hitler. To be sure, five years separated the decisions. I don't know what Trocmé might have done in Bonhoeffer's shoes at that point; nonetheless, it's interesting to me that here were two very genuine, engaged disciples of Jesus wrestling with the same question, one saying, "I cannot do violence," the other saying, "I have no alternative but to do violence." A couple of years ago, in Union Seminary in New York, there was the commemoration of Bonhoeffer, and Edgar Bethke, the great biographer of Bonhoeffer, was asked the question, "How could Bonhoeffer, as a Christian, justify getting involved in a conspiracy in an assassination plot?" And Bethke’s © Grand Valley State University �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 6   response was, "He saw no alternative." He said, "If there is someone going down the streets of a village killing people, the question is not how you cannot attempt to put an end to it, the question is how you can sit there and let it happen. You'd have to stop it." Phillip Hallie, who in 1979 wrote the book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, about Trocmé and Le Chambon, the village of the refugees, said he got a letter from someone out East who wrote to him a very scorching letter, who said, "You have set forth Trocmé and Le Chambon as a passivist village that did good and was goodness incarnate, and you haven't even touched the issue. There could have been Le Chambons and there could have been Pastor Trocmés all over the world, but someone had to stop Hitler." And Hallie said, "That's true. I have to acknowledge the truth of that criticism." The point is not that one is right or one is wrong. The point is that here were two followers of Jesus who both were prolife, proactive, fully engaged, strong, caring, putting their life on the line, one saying the only alternative is a violent response, the other saying violence is always wrong for me. Trocmé was imprisoned in a concentration camp for his activities for a period of time, but it was touch and go in those days, and so they called him out in a month or two and they said, "You may be released if you will sign this statement pledging your allegiance and your complete obedience to the French leader of the Vichy government." All he had to do was write his name and walk out free. He said, "I can't sign that. My conscience is bound to the will of God. I cannot sign that." So they said, "You'll rot in prison." He said, "I'll rot in prison," and they led him back to his cell. Now, you see, we're not talking about a simpering kind of saccharine weakness that goes around the world trying to keep out of trouble, trying to be secure and find a measure of success and just keep out of any danger. That's not the issue. And the issue is not that we are all called to be clones of a certain kind. But the issue is this – we are all called to follow Jesus and to live out a vision that dawns upon our own hearts and lives as the consequence of the impact that Jesus has made upon us. We are called to follow in his steps. That's an exciting call. As I reflect on Jesus and the reverberations of Jesus that trickle down the centuries, finding expression in an André Trocmé and a Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I find that such a person is God-obsessed. There is a conscious certainty of the reality of the good and gracious God. And one is willing and able to commit one's cause to God. Isn't part of the problem of our human existence with its meaninglessness the fact that we're not sure that God is, and therefore that there is One to whom we may commit our cause? Jesus committed his cause to God. And Trocmé committed his cause to God. Bonhoeffer committed his cause to God. And then I find also that such a life is a life that is proactive, it is a life that is engaged. Not trying to survive, not trying to just get by, but living – living positively, with attention. Annie Dillard says that prayer is attention, © Grand Valley State University �Following in His Steps Richard A. Rhem Page 7   plugged in, tuned in, aware. Aware of one's world, one's community, one's neighbor, one's family, one's life. Living with attention. And I find that such a life, as I've mentioned before, is a life of wonderful freedom. Jesus didn't fit anywhere. Trocmé was a free man. Even the French Reformed Church couldn’t bring him into line, his conscience captive to the will of God. Bonhoeffer – what freedom he had. The marvelous poem that I've shared with you many times, "Who Am I?" They tell me I'm like one accustomed to live like one who is in charge," yet he's in prison. He says, "I feel like a bird in a cage." But he struggles with that inward feeling, and yet, to all outward appearances, he was one who was alive and in charge, even in prison. He says, in the concluding lines, "What am I, Lord? Am I this or am I that? Whatever I am, Thou knowest, 0 Lord, I am thine." Marvelous freedom! And then, paradoxically, joy. Joy. Trocmé was like a two-ton truck of love, rolling through the world. There was joy! Bonhoeffer brought joy to the prison camp to the cellmates. It was contagious. And Jesus, with the joy that was set before him, endured the cross. Freedom, joy, pro-life, obsessed with God. That's living, Maybe I set Jesus before you and a couple of his followers, maybe you want to slink off to the sides and say, "Wow. Who am I?" And our discipleship looks rather shoddy and shabby, I am sure. But I don't want to conclude with that strong call to discipleship without putting it in the context of grace, to say that those of us who have moved the farthest down the line have only just begun. And those of us who haven't yet begun aren't far behind. And the call is from the good and gracious God who says, "I love you. Not on the basis of your performance, but because I love you. Now, come and follow your elder Brother, Jesus Christ, our Lord." Thanks be to God, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source 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 Lent III Series The Human Face of God Scripture Text I Peter 2:21 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-0-19870322 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-03-22 Title A name given to the resource Following in His Steps Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 March 22, 1987 entitled "Following in His Steps", as part of the series "The Human Face of God", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Peter 2:21. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Bonhoeffer Followers of Jesus Grace Lent Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fa4bc2787b980361014dec6e809f4a8e.mp3 a2bbecac28a58bc80ddd8bbdeb06340c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/99248f1b3d22a7cecc145caa0ac2f494.pdf e1297a220ec9cd5fb4fd4420cef2de1b PDF Text Text Costly Obedience From the Lenten sermon series: The Human Face of God Text: John 12:27-28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent II, March 15, 1987 Transcription of the spoken sermon Now my soul is in turmoil, and what am I to say? “Father, save me from this hour?” No, it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name… John 12: 27-28 Jesus' life has made its impact down through the centuries, and it's an amazing fact that he has changed the landscape of the world, given the limited years that he lived and the limited space that he ever occupied, the fact that he never wrote a book, he never led an army, he never really intended to found an institution, and yet the life of Jesus has so impacted the world that the world has never been the same. In our Lenten pilgrimage we are trying to find the contours of the life of Jesus in order that we might learn the contours of the life of a contemporary disciple. What does it mean today to follow Jesus? Next Sunday I will take that text from the first letter of Peter where we are encouraged to follow in his steps. He has given us an example that we should follow in his steps. To lay the groundwork for that, I want to say this morning that Jesus was what he was because of his intention at the very beginning of his life fully to follow the will of God. Jesus' obedience was intentional from the beginning. The Gospels were written after Easter, and because of that, they give us the impression that Jesus knew more than he knew, and understood more than he understood in the days of his flesh as he carried out his ministry leading up to his final crisis, crucifixion and resurrection. The Gospels, because they were written after the fact, after Easter, in the light of his victory, give us an impression that Jesus was more aware of what God was doing through him than I believe is justified. If we read the Gospels carefully, we will see that Jesus lived a genuinely human existence, one day at a time, having no clue as to the morrow, and what he understood about what was transpiring or what was building up in the future, he knew not because of some supernatural knowledge; he knew it because he was a sensitive human being that could see the outcome of the life he was living would end in the violence with © Grand Valley State University   �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 2   which his life finally ended. But, the magnificence of his life, the inspiring nature of the narrative of his days is the fact that Jesus with an early intention continued through to his death fully obedient to the will of God as he understood it. I want you to see this morning that it was a costly obedience, but an obedience that calls us, likewise, intentionally to follow the vision and the dream and our understanding of God's claim upon our lives. Jesus intended from the beginning fully to follow the will of God. In Matthew, Mark and Luke we have at the inauguration of Jesus' ministry, his baptism and then his temptation. You will find in the first three Gospels that those two events are back to back, and I think that you can reduce the temptations in the wilderness, which Jesus encountered immediately after his baptism and immediately prior to his ministry, to the temptations to become a kind of political messiah. The temptation to Jesus was to exercise his gifts and his charisma, whatever that may have been, in the cause of gaining worldly power, perhaps for noble ends, nonetheless, to carve out for himself a platform of power which would get him influence among the rank and file of humankind. Jesus said no to that temptation. John's Gospel does not record the temptation narrative for us. But in John's Gospel, it is very interesting that we get a clear idea that Jesus, from the beginning of his ministry, had an intention to live by a vision, that he was claimed by the Father and that he would follow the Father's will at any cost. In the second chapter of John's Gospel, his first miracle at the wedding of Cana, his mother came up to him and said, "Son, they're running out of wine," and he said, "Woman, don't bother me because my hour has not come." That is a characteristic note in John's Gospel. He doesn't give us the temptation narrative by which the other Gospel writers let us know from the very beginning Jesus wrestled with who he was to be and what God was calling him to be, but John does let us know that early on Jesus had a sense of who he was to be, and that his life was claimed in a very special way to work out the will of his father in the proclamation and bringing in of the kingdom of God, that is, the rule of God. So, he said to his mother, "My hour has not yet come." If you go on to the seventh chapter of John's Gospel, you will find them saying to him, "Are you going to go up to the Feast in Jerusalem? If you're doing all of these things, don't do them in secret. Go and do them in the public arena." Jesus reponded to them once again, "My time has not yet come." Jesus had a sense of being on a mission. He was living by a vision. He was consciously claimed by the Father, and he was moving deliberately to allow the Father's will to be worked out in his life, but he did not precipitate the action; he did not take matters into his own hands. He simply continued day by day, week by week, month by month to teach and to preach, to heal and to be a sign of the rule of God that had now come into the arena of human history. © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 3   And then, one day Andrew came to him, because Phillip had come to Andrew, because some Greeks had come to Phillip. Phillip's name is Greek, and he spoke Greek. Some Greeks were in Jerusalem for the Passover. They had come to Phillip and they had said, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." And Phillip got Andrew and Andrew went to Jesus and he said, "There are some people that want to see you. Some Greeks." It's as though that triggered in Jesus the recognition that the time was coming now when the kingdom of God would break out of the limits of Israel and be for all people. The coming of the Greeks seemed to trigger in Jesus' mind the recognition that now events were ready to break out on a wider front. And so, in the 23rd verse of John, chapter 12, Jesus said, "The hour has come." Jesus said, "The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified." And then he goes on to speak that parable that said unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone, and so forth. There are Bible scholars who study the passage who believe that perhaps originally verse 23 was followed immediately by verse 27, and it makes good sense. Let me read it for you. Then Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Now my soul is in turmoil, and what am I to say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. The in-between verses are probably a commentary on what this meant for Jesus to come to this hour, but it's very possible that originally he said, "Now is the hour. Now my soul is in turmoil. What shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, for this hour came I forth. Father, glorify Thy name." The hour had not come at Cana of Galilee. The hour had not come when the Feast of Tabernacles was held at Jerusalem early on. But, when the Greeks made inquiry, something triggered in Jesus, and he said, "Now is the hour." And when he recognized that the hour was here, he received that recognition with fear and trembling. Again, John does not tell us about the agony of Gethsemane which we read in Matthew, Mark and Luke. John doesn't tell us about that anguished prayer, "Father, if it be possible to remove this cup from me..." But, John gives a hint of the very same kind of anguish in this context where Jesus recognizes now that things are to the boiling point, and he approaches that moment with turmoil of soul. The word behind turmoil is a word that speaks of distress, of a wrenching of the soul, and in that agony, Jesus had to say, "Now will I cop out? Now will I seek to be spared from the moment? No, no. This is what it's been about. This is why I came. Father, glorify Thy name!" That obedience which culminated in the agony of Gethsemane where he continued to struggle and anguish and pray, but said, "Thy will be done," culminated in the cross where, in the midst of the darkness, he cried out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" That intention to obey enabled him © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 4   to stay the course and through fear and trembling, with the agony and anguish and tears, fully to follow the will of God. And I submit to you that that was costly obedience, but that it was in such costly obedience that Jesus not only was true to God, but because he was true to God, was true to himself and thereby has become such a magnificent model in the midst of our own human struggles. Jesus rightly has caught the fascination of the world. When you think of Jesus, you must be impressed with the power with which he persevered in the mastery of his own life. A self-mastery that was a consequence of being mastered by God. As I deal with people, and as I reflect on my own life, the time that we're most disgusted with ourselves is when we sell ourselves short. The time that we have the lowest self-esteem and sense of self-worth, the time that we really put ourselves down is the time when we have failed to be true to ourselves, failed to be true to the person that we believe God calls us to be. And Jesus is such an inspiring person because he lived with that self-mastery that enabled him to be a totally free human being in an age much as ours that was always trying to press him into another mold. Jesus didn't fit anywhere. He didn't fit with the establishment, the Sadducees from whom the High Priests and Chief Priests came. They were collaborators with the occupying Roman power. Now, a Sadducee could come here this morning and could make a good case for collaboration. A Sadducee could stand before us this morning and suggest that there would be no bloodshed, that there would be the preservation of the Temple, and the tradition of the fathers, and there would be a certain tranquility in society if only that independent, rambunctious Jewish spirit would rest and simply cooperate with Roman intention. Some of us are collaborators. I think I probably would have joined the Sadducees. I think I probably would have rationalized away the radical claims of Jesus by saying, "Look, it's only reasonable, it makes sense simply to play ball. There is a gray area in which one could cooperate without really betraying oneself." Not Jesus. Jesus had a sense that in him God was calling for a radical decision, and he refused to play ball with the established religious authority, and he became a terrible threat to those who were in power, for the thing that they were interested in more than anything else was the status quo that would enable them to maintain their relatively good position in that society. Jesus didn't fit. But he didn't fit with the Zealots, either. There was a Zealot party. They were the radical revolutionaries. If the Sadducees were far to the right, in their conservatism, the Zealots were far to the extreme left in their zealotry. They wanted to foster an armed rebellion against the Roman power; they were all fire in their eyes and in their hearts, and there was a time when they saw the tremendous gifts of Jesus as being the possible key to leading the popular revolt that would finally throw off the Roman power. Jesus said to them, "Look, the © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 5   problem is not Rome. The problem is not some external authority. The problem is that you are a slave to your own soul. You are not free inside. Real freedom cannot come through some form of political liberation. Real freedom is a spiritual matter, a decision of the heart." And maybe Judas, who was probably a member of that band, finally betrayed Jesus because Jesus refused to lead the popular rebellion. He didn't fit with the monastic communities of the day. We know now that out in the wilderness there were monastic communities, the Essene community, for example, that were very meticulous in the keeping of the law and the rule of holiness. Jesus didn't leave society, he didn't repudiate the world, and he didn't withdraw and pursue an inner spiritual retreat, which let the world go on its way without involvement. Jesus was not a spiritual pietist that gave up on the world. I suppose he would have granted that it was all right for those who felt called to be such, but not for him. And he, of course, was not one of the Pharisees who made an accommodation with the world, who tried to live according to the law, a legalism in the midst of a society that they wrote off with their superior self-righteousness over against the masses. Jesus opened his heart and his arms to all kinds of people. He was not afraid of being tainted by his contact with the ordinary person. He didn't fit anywhere, not with the Sadducees, nor with the Pharisees, nor with the Essenes, nor with the Zealots. There was that in Jesus that offended everybody. He didn't toe any party line. He would not line up with any ideological position. What magnificent freedom – living by a vision that was his vision, living before the face of God, freely offering obedience as he understood the will of God. What power! What freedom! Jesus ended up on a cross, but he didn't lose his soul. Jesus ended up crucified, but he never had those dismal days like you and I do when we fail to live according to our best selves, and our highest vision. He, from the beginning, had an intention fully to follow the will of God, and it got him through the days of his ministry through the conflict and the struggle of those days, and when he came to the crisis, he didn't collapse, but he maintained that posture. It was a costly obedience, for it cost him his life, because he had no political action group, he had no lobby which could go to the powers that be to get him off the hook. It cost him his life, but he never lost his life. He died, but he never lost his soul. Isn't he inspiring? Isn't that magnificent? There was a person born in the early part of the century in France by the name of André Trocmé. Trocmé was born into a rather well to do family and had a very privileged childhood. Early on his mother was killed in an auto accident, and he lived in a French Huguenot, French Reformed home in which his father's spirituality was very quiet. But there was so much feeling in André that he could © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 6   never really let loose until he joined a youth organization in France in his village, in which he was exposed to a very personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and in that experience came himself to a very personal relationship. As a young man, he began to be shaped by the vision of Jesus. One day, during the First World War, his village being occupied by German soldiers, a German soldier said to him, "Would you like some bread? Are you hungry?" He said, "No, I'm not hungry, and if I were, I wouldn't take bread from you because you are the enemy." And the soldier said to him, "No, I'm not the enemy. You don't understand who I am. I'm a Christian." And André said to him, "My brother is fighting in the war, and you would kill my brother." He said, "No, I would not kill your brother." André, said, "But you're a soldier." He said, "Yes, but I don't carry a gun. They allow me, as a telegraph officer, to do my duty without carrying a gun because Jesus has said that I must not kill." The genuineness of this German soldier so impressed André that he took him to his youth organization where the German soldier shared his witness for Jesus. That witness of that German soldier made such a deep impression on him, the German soldier having come to his conviction because of his relationship to Jesus Christ, that André could never get that out of his mind and it started him on the road to pacifism. Eventually, Trocmé became a pastor in a rather poor French village. He was leading a men's Bible study group one day and he found himself saying, without having thought ahead of time about saying it, "If Jesus really walked upon this earth, why do we keep treating him as if he were a disembodied, impossible, idealistic, ethical theory? If he was a real man, then the Sermon on the Mount was made for people on this earth and, if he existed, God has shown us in flesh and blood what goodness is for flesh and blood people." There were about ten men there, and they heard him say this, and it was like the spirit of God illumined those words. They all fell to their knees and asked God to enable them to emulate Jesus, and that was the beginning of what was an awakening, a spiritual awakening in the whole area. André Trocmé eventually became the French Huguenot pastor in a little village in Southern France, Le Chambon. During the Second World War, he led his whole village to become a refuge for refugees, especially Jews fleeing the Nazi power. The thing that stirred and triggered and empowered the life and the vision of Trocmé was his determination early on in his life not to be separated from Jesus. What this meant to him was that God had shown mankind how precious man was to him by taking the form of a human being and coming down to help human beings find their deepest happiness. Trocmé believed also that Jesus had demonstrated that love for mankind by dying for us on the cross and if these beliefs sounded too mysterious, he knew that Jesus had himself refused to do violence to mankind, refused to harm the enemies of his precious existence as a human being. In short, Jesus was for Trocmé the embodied forgiveness of sin and staying close to Jesus © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 7   meant always being ready to forgive your enemies instead of torturing and killing them. Trocmé led the village of Le Chambon, first of all, to a passive resistance to the French Vichy government that was the puppet of Nazi power. But then the day came when they finally had to take their stand, and it came when an official of the Vichy government came to visit the village in order to celebrate Vichy France, the Nazi-dominated France at that time. Some students of Trocmé's school gave the official a statement which said, "We have heard what happened in Parish where 28,000 Jews have just been rounded up and deported and sent to their deaths, and we want you to know now if you ever come here and ask us to reveal the presence of Jewish people in our midst, we will refuse." And, of course, the official reacted strongly, finally threatening Trocmé, saying, "If we don't get the Jews, we'll get you." It's a marvelous story recorded in the book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, by Phillip Hallie. It's a story of how one person was impacted by a vision of Jesus and determined to live his life according to that vision, and who had a very fruitful ministry. During the years '40 to '44, he led a village of 3,000 to save the lives of 6,000 men, women and children. I am sure that it is only in the concrete living of life that we can see the outworking of good and evil. We keep telling the story of Jesus because Jesus inspires us to follow in an obedience like his. And I would simply say in closing that each one of us must determine what Jesus is calling him or her to be. My vision and your vision need not be the same. I'm not at all convinced that we are all called to respond in the same way. I am convinced of this - that to the extent that one is captivated by Jesus, that will stamp one's character, and then, it is the challenge of one's life to live out of that vision. It'll never happen, unless it is one's own vision. You cannot take this from my lips and simply adapt it to your life. You cannot do something as an external norm pressed upon you from the outside. We could argue about all these things; we could debate about Trocmé's philosophy, the philosophical and theological ideas expressed. People have debated these issues down through the centuries, but that is simply to create a smokescreen. When one is captivated by the vision, then if one follows the vision, one may lose one's life, but one will not betray one's soul. Jesus fully followed the will of God, and he got a cross. So to live is not to ensure success, not to guarantee security, not necessarily to come into a tranquil and serene life. But so to live, is to live nobly, so to live is to live heroically; so to live is to live humanly. Jesus never faltered, in spite of the turmoil and the wrenching of soul. He fully followed the will of God. It was a costly obedience. And he died without a clue. He trusted God in the darkness of death as he had followed him in the days of his life, but you and I know that the darkness of Good Friday was dispersed by the © Grand Valley State University �Costly Obedience Richard A. Rhem Page 8   light of Easter Sunday, and that when one is faithful within history, the God beyond history will give His "Yes" and vindicate such a life. Jesus calls us to find that vision which is really our own, and then to be true to ourselves in the living out of our life before the face of God. That really is living so far beyond the shabbiness and the shoddiness of so much of our discipleship. Jesus – inspiring model of obedience! Reference: Phillip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There. HarperCollins, 1979. © 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 Lent II Series The Human Face of God Scripture Text John 12:27-28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Phillip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, 1979 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-0-19870315 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-03-15 Title A name given to the resource Costly Obedience Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 March 15, 1987 entitled "Costly Obedience", as part of the series "The Human Face of God", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 12:27-28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Forgiveness Lent Suffering of Jesus Vision https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/73bcbcff0c694e4a78d76b3685075f55.mp3 ea0ace3691c9cc1427f1a05b10d188ea https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a10edce973ae95b1a87853834f0bf3c.pdf 2ae4a2b011edb36d54983b4229ea6326 PDF Text Text How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Text: Isaiah 49:6; Luke 2:32, 34-35 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany, January 18, 1987 Transcription of the spoken sermon …I will make you a light to the nations, to be my salvation to earth’s fartherest bounds. Isaiah 49:6 …a light that will be a revelation to the heathen… Luke 2:32 …This child is destined to be a sign which men reject…many in Israel will stand or fall because of him…the secret thoughts of many will be laid bare. Luke 2:3435 How do you respond when Truth dawns upon you? That is the question posed by the title of the message. The question needs some explaining. "When Truth dawns upon you," already says something about my understanding of how we come to a knowledge of Truth – insight into the deepest levels of Truth, the Truth about our identity and destiny, about the world and history, about God as a "given." It is given in a moment of unveiling when Truth shows itself. The deepest Truth is Truth of revelation. This is not to disparage or denigrate patient experimentation, exploration and research; it is only to affirm that the secret of deepest mysteries of life, of the world and God are not at the conclusion of a mathematical computation nor a logical syllogism; rather, in a flash of insight, the Truth shows itself. Thus, I ask about Truth dawning. I ask also about response to Truth; how do we respond to the Truth that shows itself, manifests itself? Do we yield to it, allowing ourselves to be changed by it? Do we resist it? Deny it? Close ourselves against it? The question arises in this season of Epiphany. God is manifest in our world; we have seen the light of revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. © Grand Valley State University   �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The Prophet understood that God would bring the light of truth to the world. He understood that Israel had been the "place" of revelation and also that it was Israel's role to be the Servant of the Lord to bring light to the nations. The universalism present already in the call of Abraham would be effected – through the Servant of the Lord – Israel and, specifically, one who would arise from Israel. Reflect for a moment. Advent - Coming. The Lord's coming. The Prophet sensed the Kingdom was dawning in the release of the Exiles. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. You who bring Zion good news, up with you to the mountaintop; …cry to the cities of Judah, your God is here. Last week we heard that beautiful word from Isaiah 42: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. …He will not break a bruised reed, or snuff out a smouldering wick…I have formed you, and appointed you to be a light to all peoples, a beacon for the nations… The Old Testament Lesson repeats the Servant's calling — I will make you a light to the nations, to be my salvation to earth’s fartherest bound. Israel lived in expectation of One who would come, who would bring salvation to the nation and to the nations. Christmas - the birth of the Promised One - a Saviour; good news of a great joy to all people. The Light shines in the darkness for the Word becomes flesh, full of grace and Truth. Epiphany - unveiling, manifestation, revelation; Light has come into the world. Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world." Now, the question is how will we respond? The Gospels tell us that the presence of the Light elicits a double reaction: some receive the light with joy and find salvation; some resist the light and miss God's gracious gift. Already in the Nativity stories we are forewarned that the response to this child will be mixed. Matthew recorded that as we saw last week; the wise men stopped at Herod's Court to inquire where the child was born whose star they had seen. Herod's © Grand Valley State University �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   response was not joy that the Earth had received the gift of a child who would be a King. Rather, he searched for the child to destroy it and, failing to find it, slaughtered all male children two years old and under. Hostility already at the beginning! The Wise Men worshiped; Herod murdered. Luke gives us a shadow of foreboding at the beginning, as well. Old Simeon, a devout and trusting servant of God, was waiting for that dramatic movement through which God would redeem His people and bring light to the world. As the child was brought to the Temple, the Spirit nudged old Simeon. He took the child in his arms and uttered those familiar and beautiful words. Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace … for mine eyes have seen thy salvation … a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel. A beautiful response, indeed. Simeon had prayed and waited and one day, holding the child, the truth dawned on him. He embraced the child and embraced the Truth. But Simeon had more to say; he went on to say, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against … that the thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. A sign spoken against, a sign of contradiction. This child would elicit a double response: some would fall, some rise. Epiphany is a season that reminds us that God is manifest in the world -that He came to us in Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrated so recently and whose passion and death we will be all too soon remembering. Epiphany is a bridge period in which we recognize the presence in our world of Truth and light and move from the joyful celebration of its dawning to the awful remembrance when we did our best to douse the light by killing the one in whom it dawned. It is that sobering reality that we confront in this message. We are always placed before the choice to walk in the light or to choose the darkness. I have a book on my desk entitled, Jesus, Inspiring and Disturbing Presence. We have been celebrating the inspiring side of the equation, the joy, the hope, the love that came to us in Jesus. But, there is the other side – the call to decision, the call to repentance, the call to die to self and follow Jesus in the life of service and sacrifice. © Grand Valley State University �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Jesus is not an interesting figure of the past; he is very much the present, living Lord. In the Atlantic Monthly of December, 1986, there is a lengthy essay entitled, "Who Do Men Say That I Am?" It is a superb summary of the understanding of Jesus through the centuries. David Tracy, theologian at the University of Chicago, is quoted as saying that more has been written about Jesus in the last twenty years than in the previous two thousand. "Jesus is very much a figure of discussion and controversy in our present world and the followers of Jesus to the extent that they are true to what came to expression in him will be at the center of controversy in the world." He is absolutely right. Our world is not through with Jesus. It is very easy for us to slip into a mode of thinking that Jesus is a figure of the past. Christmas with all of the beautiful pageantry, and all the sentimentality that arises in our hearts, sometimes veils from our eyes the reality of the living Jesus, the living Lord in our world today. And, as a matter of fact, Jesus Christ continues to be the linchpin of history, and the very center of our world. John said of him, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it.” But the darkness has never ceased trying to overcome it. Matthew tipped us off in the very beginning, just like Luke. He told about the worship of the Magi. And in that he saw the coming of the Gentiles to the light of Christ, but in the course of that narrative, he recorded the stop in Herod’s Court, and Herod’s fear and paranoia and Herod’s slaughter of the innocent children. In an effort to wipe out this child whose birth was announced with a star. So, at the very beginning of the gospel, there were already foreshadowings of that which is to come. We are warned by both Matthew and Luke in the very nativity stories that this child will be a source of contradiction in the world: that there is something in Jesus that will cut against the grain of this world, that there is something in Jesus that will encounter us and confront us and judge us, that there is something in Jesus that will call us to die in order to be made new and to follow him as his disciple. It is not all sweetness and light! There is violence, there is darkness, there is the hostility against the light already in the gospel narrative of his birth. And so I ask you this morning, on this second Sunday of Epiphany, the light that shines in our world: How do you respond when truth dawns upon you? What difference does it make in your life that Jesus has come? What difference does it make in your living, that you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? How are you different? What decisions do you make and what transformation has occurred because you follow Jesus? That’s the question of Epiphany. For it is one thing to celebrate the presence of the Light and it is another thing to ask ourselves how seriously we walk in the Light. Our world is not done with Jesus Christ. And, as those who claim him as Savior and have pledged to follow him as Lord, let me ask you. How do you respond when light dawns on you? Well, let me ask it this way. When is the last time you © Grand Valley State University �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   had a new thought? When is the last time you found yourself confronted with an insight that challenged a long-held conviction? How long has it been since in the presence of Jesus Christ or contemplating who he is and what his word says, that you have changed an opinion, that you have altered an attitude, that you have found your lifestyle modified by the fact that the light has dawned upon us? Our world is not yet done with Jesus Christ. And it is one thing to believe in Him; it is another to follow Him! It is one thing to have a kind of intellectual assent to the fact that he lived and died and maybe rose again. It is another thing to have him be the pattern of our living and to pattern our living in the light of who he was and what he calls us to be. Our world is not yet done with Jesus Christ. He is still the center and he is still full of controversy and he is still full of contradiction. If we have not found our lives contradicted by Jesus, we can be sure that we have not heard the gospel. We have a way in this twentieth century, in this affluent America, in this Christian church, we have a way of domesticating the gospel, of taking the sharpness off the corners, and of trivializing the message. We forget the radicality of the things that Jesus stood for. It is not easy to be a twentieth-century American and to follow Jesus. Much easier, I believe, to have been a peasant in Palestine, much easier to follow Jesus if one is disinvested, disenfranchised, if one is oppressed, if one has no vested interest in anything, if one has no place to go but up. Then it is not hard to forsake everything and follow Jesus. But how does one follow Jesus when one is a member of western civilization, of American culture, of the most affluent society the world has ever known? The most educated, the most sophisticated, the most resourceful, technically and scientifically most advanced? What does one do in a society like this when one is called to follow Jesus? What does one do when one is confronted by Jesus and contradicted by Jesus, when that contradiction and confrontation run against the grain of everything that is American value, that is western value, that is Christian value. The moment there is a nation, it becomes institutional. The moment there’s a church, it becomes institutional. The moment there is any kind of structuring in society, we get institutionalization and as soon as there is institutionalization we all have our vested interests and in maintaining the status quo. It’s true of our government. And we ought not be too hard on our leaders. They are people just like us. And what are they trying to do? They’re trying to do the same thing that Herod was trying to do. In the Pentagon and the Reagan Administration: messing around with Iran and Iraq, meddling around in South America, fiddling around in South Africa – what are we trying to do? We are trying to maintain the balance of power; we are trying to preserve the edge of power; we are trying to preserve the place of preeminence. And after all, isn’t that why we elect our officials: in order to keep the American way of life, in order to keep the economy booming, in order to keep the military strong enough so that we’ll be invulnerable to attack? What do we expect of our leaders if not that? Do we not charge our President with the necessity of enforcing the Constitution? © Grand Valley State University �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   And it’s not only in the state; it’s in the church as well. As soon as the church becomes an institution, then we are more concerned about the perpetuation and the preservation of the institution than we are the questions of truth or obedience. And that comes right down to the local level and comes right down to the local congregation and it comes right down to Christ Community Church. And do we make our response in terms of what is a responsible obedience to following Jesus or do we make our decision in terms of what is good and enhancing for the institution? And it comes, of course, right down into our personal lives. Not so much what we believe, but the extent to which our belief alters the way we live. There is a structure of belief which we all have and profess and then there is an operational level of belief – that upon which we function. And we function most of the time in terms of self-interest, in terms of vested interest. In terms of our own wellbeing and our own welfare. And that’s human and that’s natural, but every once in a while we need to step back and say, Jesus: sign of contradiction. Jesus: sign spoken against. Jesus, what does it mean to follow you today in America in 1987, in Grand Haven in Spring Lake, in comfortable western Michigan, where nature smiles for seven miles. What does it mean, Jesus, what difference does it make because I belong to you? In all of my relationships, all of my business, all of my pleasure, light has dawned upon the world. How do we respond to the fact that Light has dawned? The world is not done with Jesus. More has been written in the last 20 years than in the previous 2000. Jesus is still very much living Lord and he proclaimed a kingdom and has a salvation to bring to earth’s fartherest bounds. The church is not to be some little backwater ghetto. It is not simply to be a cozy little community of people who are weak and who still need God in order to get by. The church is that revolutionary group gathered around that revolutionary person whose radicality in the midst of human society got him crucified. Tomorrow Martin Luther King’s birthday was celebrated. I repent that while he was leading the civil rights movement, I did not pray for him. I think I was rather irritated by him. When he spoke out against the VietnamWar, when it was unpatriotic to do so, I’m sorry I was not prophetic enough to understand and to lend my voice. And when I read his sermons and speeches I know that they were inspired by Jesus, who was always against the oppressor and always to set the oppressed free. Last year the Catholic bishops came out with a paper on nuclear disarmament. You may agree or you may disagree with their conclusions, if you follow Jesus, you can not question that church leaders – all Christians – have an imperative to address themselves to an issue which has brought the whole human race, for which God intends salvation, into jeopardy. This year the bishops come out with a paper on economic policy. You may think they’re wild; you may think they’re in left field; you may question their conclusions, but you may not question that the church of Jesus Christ and those who lead in Jesus’ name have a right and a responsibility to address the economy in order to ensure that there is some measure of justice in this world. Jesus was revolutionary – not in terms of the zealots who wanted © Grand Valley State University �How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns on You? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   simply to throw off the Roman yoke, and who would have come in with their own regime which would have been just as oppressive – but Jesus was revolutionary in that he stood against everything that seems to drive the human spirit. Jesus was the one who said if you want to live then you must die. Jesus was the one who said love your enemies, pray for your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you. Funny man, funny man! Strange person! He is like a knot that will not be dissolved in the middle of the human family. And those who follow him may not be simply a comfortable community who use God for their own tranquility. Those who follow Jesus are called to be a community of people who are as radical and as revolutionary, who can never adopt any political platform, who can never be at ease with any creed or confession, who can never give absolute loyalty to any state or to any church because they are a people who will give ultimate allegiance to God alone, following Jesus. No matter what the price. Can you remember the last time in the presence of Jesus you ever changed your mind? Has a prejudice ever melted away? Has an opinion ever been altered? Has a conviction ever been changed because you held it up in the light of his face and felt judged and repented and experienced the liberation, the freedom that is the consequence of the Truth? I’m afraid for most of us our religion is a cultural matter. For most of us God is one to be used and religion is for comfort. I have a book on my desk that says, Jesus: Inspiring and Disturbing Presence. Oh, inspiring to be sure, inspiring to be sure – and disturbing. Because to follow him, to be faced with a decision and to ask what would Jesus do, is a very radical thing to do. I don’t do it very well. I repent and pray that I may follow him. Let us pray. Lord Jesus you said you came into the world not to condemn the world but that the world through you might be saved. Then the gospel record goes on to say that this is the condemnation: that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light. God forgive us. And enable us by your grace to rise up and follow the light where ever it may lead, following in the master’s steps, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we pray. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source 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 II Scripture Text Isaiah 49:6, Luke 2:32, 34-35 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-0-19870118 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-01-18 Title A name given to the resource How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns On You? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 18, 1987 entitled "How Do You Respond When Truth Dawns On You?", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 49:6, Luke 2:32, 34-35. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Epiphany Followers of Jesus Light Radical Truth of Jesus Revelation Servant of the Lord Universal Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b39004c23efa1ab63999a07309a027a5.mp3 229a873e44188bf9fbea76d02a18574d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4aa5fe1cae2dc6d1f68967de1953087e.pdf 3f5f16e2bd3711c690ed0448fc8bfb05 PDF Text Text Peter: Rocky From the sermon series: No Stained Glass Saints Text: Matthew 16: 18, 23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 16, 1986 Transcription of the spoken sermon ... you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Matthew 16:18 ... He... said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." Matthew 16:23 Peter is either an Apostle made for this series, or this series is made for Peter, I'm not sure which. But, if the series hadn't come along, it would have had to be invented in order to do justice to Peter, in order to get Peter before us as a saint who was not exactly made of stained glass. Peter, the Disciple about whom the most is spoken in the Gospels, the one who is not only most spoken of, but the one who speaks the most, the one who speaks over and over again, sometimes magnificently and sometimes miserably – Peter who had many faults and failings, but one of which was not that he was "Mr. Cool." Peter was the person who was pretty open. He had a difficult time disguising what was going on in the inside of his mind and heart. Peter was a man who spoke before he thought, but never maliciously, always sincerely, always in exuberance, with enthusiasm. He had many faults, but one of them was not that he lacked passion. He was in many ways blundering, but he was in all ways lovable. And his sins, which were many, were covered, because he loved much. And in the end, the faith that Jesus placed in him was more than vindicated by this unstable man who became solid as a rock: Peter, the Apostle. I was amused this week thinking about Peter. The Christian Church has done a marvelous job about being contentious about things that don't really matter, and I was reflecting on the old Protestant and Catholic debate about the role of Peter. I have stood in St. Peter's in Rome and I have seen etched in marble in large letters the name of Peter. And then the succeeding names, all of those who have occupied the chair of Peter in Rome. I know, as good Roman Catholic historians know today, that there are some gaps in those early centuries. I also know, as the © Grand Valley State University   �Peter: Rocky Richard A. Rhem Page 2   best of the Roman historians and theologians know, that to project back from the twentieth century or the sixteenth century or the thirteenth century the conception of the papacy, to project it back into the first century and to invest Peter with it is a fruitless and futile exercise which has little value. And yet, I've shared with you before that I was impressed and I was moved standing before that list and seeing the name of Peter and knowing that, even if every name in those early generations could not be verified as having held the recognized primacy in the Roman Church, nonetheless, the very fact that I was standing there in the twentieth century in the greatest basilica in the world was an indication of the continuity of the Christian tradition that had indeed come down to us from Jesus Christ, who said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." I was amused and laughed to myself about how ridiculous we have been over the centuries in the Church with all of the battles we have fought. As a matter of fact, it probably would have been to the Protestants' advantage to admit that Peter was the first Pope because it would have been the best argument in the world against infallibility, which was not an early Church doctrine, but one that came on only subsequently in later centuries as a means of buttressing the authority of the Church. Peter was the first Pope. At least Peter had the preeminence in the apostolic band. There's no doubt about that. In every listing of the Disciples, in the Gospels, they are in different order, with two exceptions. Peter is always named first; Judas is always named last. Peter did have a kind of investiture by Jesus. I suppose that it was somewhat because of his natural endowments. He was a leader but, beyond that, it was because Jesus had tapped him and called him and claimed him and commissioned him to be at the head of that apostolic band. He had a kind of preeminence among his peers and his equals in the early band of disciples. So, Jesus chose a reed in order to make him into a rock. Peter. Rocky. His way was rocky. He often rocked the boat, and he stumbled a good many times along the way. His way was rocky, but he became solid as a rock, I suppose, through the insight of Jesus who named him Rock before he was solid, who named him in order to enable him to live into his name. The Quaker Elton Trueblood is responsible for this understanding of Rock, or Peter, as a nickname. I've shared it with you before, but it's too good not to keep sharing over the years, and maybe some of you haven't heard it. So, let me tell you what really happened when Jesus called Peter, Peter. You have to understand, first of all, that there's no record anywhere of anyone being called Peter before the time of Jesus. It was not a name. The Rock. Jesus called him Rock. Now, his name was Simon, and when Jesus really meant business with him, he addressed him as Simon Bar Jonah. “Bar” meant "son of." Jonah would be our word for John. Peter's father's name was John, and John named Peter Simon. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: Rocky Richard A. Rhem Page 3   So, Jesus was really giving to Simon a new name. Not seriously in the sense of rechristening him, but he was giving him a nickname, a nickname which often picks out a characteristic of a person, and when a nickname is really expressive of something that is so intrinsic to that person that you can't think of that person ever again without the name, then you've done a good job of naming. Jesus called Simon, who was the son of John, Rock or, as we would say, Rocky. Now, he was the son of John, but the son of John has come down to us as a last name - Johnson. Johnson is not really a last name, a label of some sort that derives from any other place than from the fact that the person so named was a son of John and with the inversion it became Johnson, and so what Jesus was saying to Simon was, " From now on you'll be Rocky Johnson." And that's true. Rocky Johnson. Simon Bar Jonah, Simon Son of John, Rocky Johnson. The Church is built on Rocky Johnson! And I agree with the Church in Rome. I think he was the first Pope. The first pope was Rocky Johnson! What a great joke! What a sense of humor has the Almighty! What a needle to discourage all of the pomp and seriousness and self-importance of the Church over the centuries when you think of the fact that Jesus gave preeminence to a person upon whom he said he would found the Church, a person no less than Rocky Johnson! Now, when you think of all of the self-importance of all of the church leaders, popes and priests and bishops and preachers and even an elder and a deacon or two, when you think of all of our presumption, all of our pompousness, our pomposity and all of the ceremony – how we take ourselves seriously in this world as though finally God and Truth and existence itself depended upon the likes of us serious-minded individuals. Whenever you get to thinking that – whenever you get to thinking that it all rests on you, whenever you get to thinking that you carry the whole world on your shoulders, then remember that Jesus said, "I'll put the whole business on the shoulders of Rocky Johnson!" And think of Peter and then realize that the first thing that you've got to do is laugh at yourself. And the second thing is to get on with the job with good courage. Because, if God could do something with Peter, my, what he could do with you! Simon Peter. We call him Simon Peter now, but Simon, son of John, Rocky Johnson, was the one who was spokesman for the apostolic band and who gave that great confession to the question of Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?", "You are the Christ, you are the Messiah." The Messiah. We really should translate that Messiah, not use the Greek word Christ, because what Peter was saying is, "You are the one toward whom the whole Old Testament points. You are the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You are the great David's greater Son. You are the Anointed One, the one anointed with the spirit, the breath, the life, the power of God. You are the Son of the living God." And Jesus blessed Peter for that, and acknowledged that it wasn't something that Peter came to because he had some great intellect or some great ingenuity, some great intuitive sense, but it was because Almighty God had made it known to him. And then he went on to say, "You are Rocky, and on you I will build my Church." © Grand Valley State University �Peter: Rocky Richard A. Rhem Page 4   And we went on and read another paragraph and we found that, as Jesus began to prepare his disciples for the inevitability of that which lay before him, speaking about his entry into Jerusalem and his death, Peter said, "Not so, Lord." Peter, once again, as exuberant in his protest this time as he was enthusiastic about his confession just a little bit before, said, "It won't happen to you. Lord. It just couldn't possibly happen to you. Not while I'm here!" The enthusiasm, the lack of cool, the confidence and overconfidence in his own power and stability – all of that coming out of Peter, protesting against that which Jesus was saying, refusing really to hear that difficult word. He says, "It won't happen as long as I'm around, to which Jesus had to say the most severe word he said to anyone – "Get behind me, Satan. You're not on God's side, you're on man's side." And so it was that the first Pope not only was given a great declaration of blessing by Jesus, but also was given hell by Jesus. That's the kind of saints that make up the Church of Jesus Christ. Up one minute and down the next. Filled with inspiration and speaking out of revelation one minute, and the next minute so filled with their own self-preoccupation and their own designs and destiny that they can't hear the Lord speak, and therefore go contrary to Him and can actually be spoken of as being on the side of the Evil One. Peter, in all of his boasting, was doing it really out of the beautiful quality of his love. There were other disciples who didn't say anything to what Jesus was saying. And that's not to their credit. Peter at least responded, but he responded out of his own limited insight, his own twisted vision of things, this first Pope of the Christian Church. Jesus had to say to him on another occasion when Peter said," If it takes going all the way to death, it won't happen to you," Jesus warned him that before the cock would crow twice, he would deny the Lord three times. And you know the story: Peter following Jesus after his arrest, after an aborted attempt to protect Jesus by the drawing of his sword, warming himself by the fire in the courtyard of the High Priest, denying to chambermaids that he had any knowledge at all of Jesus. One wonders how all of those things can coexist in the heart of one man. How one can be so firm and clear in one's declaration of faith one moment and so miserable in one's denial to the extent that he cursed, saying, "I don't know the man"? Was he like Falstaff, only running to protect himself to return and fight another day? I think that's probably being too kind to Peter. I think that Peter was that kind of person that is made up of light and shadow, of light and darkness. He had a light side and a shadow side. He was a mixed bag; he was filled with equivocation and ambiguity; he had a great love; he had a great devotion; he had a great loyalty. He was fearful, he was afraid, he was chicken! He was as inconsistent and unstable and unreliable and unpredictable as I am! And all four of the Gospels record that miserable denial. One of them, only Luke, tells us that when Peter denied the third time and the cocks marked the rising of the sun, Jesus looked at Peter. They all tell us that Peter went out and wept bitterly. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: Rocky Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Have you ever had to look into the eyes of Jesus and turn and weep bitterly? It's not a fun experience, because in that moment one knows that one has not only denied one's Lord, one has denied the truth, one has denied oneself, one has defeated the best that is in one, and one's hopes and ideals and dreams and aspirations come crashing down in a moment, and all one can do at such a moment is to weep bitterly. It is interesting that in Mark's account of the Resurrection, Jesus encounters the women and says, "Go and tell my brethren, and Peter." Isn't that just like Jesus? Go and tell my brethren, and Peter. Be sure you tell Peter. Tell the rest, but just in case you might think that Peter is now an exception, set aside to be isolated, to be judged and condemned, let me tell you, you be sure and tell Peter. And then, of course, there's the scene after Easter when the disciples are out fishing. Peter was still eating his heart out. In the 21st chapter of John where it begins, Peter says, "I'm going to go fishing." When you're really hurting, when you're really distraught and confused, the best thing to do is to do the thing you do best, to go back to the old, familiar routine. Peter said, "I'm going to go fishing." And Jesus came and made a charcoal fire on the beach and prepared breakfast. And in that encounter post-Easter, he caught Peter's eye and he said, "Do you love me?" Peter said, "Yes, I love you." And he said, "Feed my sheep." And he said a second time, "Peter, do you love me," and Peter said, "Yes, I love you." He said, "Feed my lambs." And he said to him a third time, "Peter, do you love me," and Peter was distressed because he said to him a third time and he said, "Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you." He said, "Feed my sheep." (I just want you to know that we're even now. Three times you denied me, three times I make you tell me what I know is true. You love me.) Unpredictable, unstable, unreliable, irresponsible, compulsive, wonderful, enthusiastic, passionate, blundering idiot, Peter, first Pope, Rocky Johnson. Judas denied his Lord and he went out and he hanged himself. Have you ever thought of hanging yourself? If you have ever gone out and wept bitterly, then you have had the thought in your mind and in your heart that it would be easier to end it all? A judge did that in Detroit this week. Many years of respect, reputation, no doubt quality service, then exposed and he shot himself. So did Judas. Suicide is probably the ultimate action of wounded pride. When I finally come full turn and see who I really am, that's difficult enough to take. But, when everybody else knows it too, it's almost easier just to be done with it all. Judas hanged himself after betraying his Lord. Peter wept. He had all of the same inclinations and all of the same feeling and all of the same self-accusation and all of the same pain, but he caught Jesus' eye, and instead of killing himself, instead of giving up on himself, instead of selling short the grace of God, he came back once more. Rocky Johnson. Alexander White, the great Scottish preacher with fruitful imagination, has us imagine Peter climbing into the pulpit to preach the funeral sermon of Judas. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: Rocky Richard A. Rhem Page 6   What do you think might have been his text? What do you think might have been his plea, his cry to those who gathered in the wake of Judas? Might he not have said to that gathered audience, "Judas quit too soon. He gave up on God and so he gave up on himself. But don't ever give up on God, for His grace is greater than all our sins. No matter how deep you have fallen, how badly you have failed, how dark the night, how deep the pain – grace greater than all our sins can transform us and make us new again." Rocky Johnson. Let him be a sign to us that the Church is founded on the possibility of a second chance, of a new lease on life, of beginning all over again! And then, with Rocky Johnson, maybe we, too, will come to the point where someone will say, "Speak no more in his name," and we'll be able to say with calm confidence and deep assurance, "You'll have to judge for yourself whether it is right to obey God or man. But, as for me, I cannot but speak the things that I have seen and heard. Jesus Christ whom you crucified, God raised up. And he's made me new. Blessed be His holy name." Amen and amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source 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 XXVI Series No Stained Glass Saints Scripture Text Matthew 16:18, 23 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-0-19861116 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-11-16 Title A name given to the resource Peter: Rocky Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 November 16, 1986 entitled "Peter: Rocky", as part of the series "No Stained Glass Saints", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 16:18, 23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Apostle Peter Church Followers of Jesus Transforming Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2d7b46c98e68bebc0f77c3be39557dee.mp3 1b5cde47d8e45400b0905f0a12e11ab0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8678c5a8a4615266210d30329cb7455f.pdf ba908721ca5f40a5860ea3ecc5e780b8 PDF Text Text Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled From the sermon series: No Stained Glass Saints Text: Luke 8: 2; John 20: 16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 9, 1986 Transcription of the spoken sermon The lilting melody and the words of the song of Mary Magdalene in the rock opera, Jesus Christ, Superstar, are, for me, one of the most moving songs that have come along in a long time. I don't know how to love him, What to do, how to move him. I've, been changed, yes, really changed. In these past few days when I’ve seen myself I seem like someone else. (Mary Magdalene, in Jesus Christ Superstar, A Rock Opera) The song expresses the struggle within the heart of Mary Magdalene, whose life had been transformed by Jesus Christ, trying to come to terms with that experience and with the One Who was the catalyst for that human transformation. Don’t you think it’s rather funny I should be in this position? She is no lover’s fool, the one who has always been so cool, ... running every show. And yet, in the presence of Jesus, Mary is a woman transformed, transfixed, really not knowing how to love him. He scares me so… I want him so…I love him so. I find that Mary Magdalene has been the subject of a great deal of the great art of the world – painting, literature, drama. She has played an important role in the tradition of the Church. She is the example of a person whose life was changed by Jesus Christ. I know that she has been sculpted in statuary, she has been painted © Grand Valley State University   �Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled Richard A. Rhem Page 2   on canvas, and I can't help but believe she has been placed in stained glass, as well. Mary Magdalene is a woman about whom we know very little prior to her encounter with Jesus Christ. Luke's brief statement tells us that Mary was one of a company of women who accompanied the band of disciples and Jesus, who ministered to them out of their resources. He identifies Mary as one from whom seven demons had gone out. I don't know if he meant seven, or if he meant simply seven as that number of completion, but that isn't really important. The important thing is that he points to a woman who ministered to Jesus Christ during the days of his ministry. If we had read the complete Gospel record, we would find her to have been with Mary, his mother, lingering at the Cross when the disciples had forsaken him. We would find her in the company of other women early in the morning, coming to the tomb on the day of Resurrection. We find her, as we read a moment ago, as that one to whom Jesus gave that special and personal revelation of himself. It would seem, perhaps, that Mary Magdalene represented that human person in Jesus' life with whom he must have had the deepest, most intimate relationship. Her life had been changed and with total devotion she followed him, she worshiped him. He was the source of her continuing new existence. And it's a remarkable story full of good hope for all of us, because I don't imagine there is anyone here this morning that could qualify as a better cripple than Mary Magdalene. There is no one who has entered this sanctuary this morning who would have to take a back seat in the presence of Mary Magdalene before she met Jesus. We don't know much about her, but the imagination of the Church has been full and rich. Throughout the Church tradition she has often been lumped with the other Marys. There are, indeed, seven Marys mentioned in the New Testament. Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, for one. And then, just prior to this account in Luke 8 mentioning Mary Magdalene, there is the story of a woman of the street, the streetwalker, the harlot, who comes into the Pharisees’ party where Jesus is, breaks down, weeps over his feet, wipes them with the hairs of her head. In the tradition of the Church, Mary Magdalene has often been identified with this woman, although without any real biblical warrant. She has been identified, also, both in Jesus Christ Superstar, and another, earlier 20th century drama, Mary Magdalene, by a man named Maeterlinck, as the woman in John 8, the woman taken in the act of adultery who was dragged before Jesus with the question, "What shall we do with her? What does the Law require?" Jesus said, as he stooped and wrote in the sand, "Those of you who are without sin, cast the first stone, fulfilling the Law," and with all of them slinking away, he finally confronted the woman, saying to her, "Does no man accuse you?" She said, "No man, Lord." He said, "Neither do I. Go your way and sin no more." There is no biblical basis for identifying Mary Magdalene with the woman in Luke 7 who burst into the dinner party, nor is there any basis for identifying Mary Magdalene with the woman in John 8 taken in adultery. However, it is a possibility. We don't know. Whatever was the trouble with Mary Magdalene, as a matter of fact, she was a wounded, crippled human being. She was a person that © Grand Valley State University �Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled Richard A. Rhem Page 3   was in bondage. She was a person who was not free, not healthy, not whole. She was a person who lacked a sense of identity and self-esteem and spiritual health and wholeness. She was a person who was crippled, injured, wounded. She was a person who was dominated by some power outside of herself, which was not the Power of God, but the Power of Darkness. This one, who has been a great, magnificent woman in the mind of the Church down through the centuries, was, indeed, a broken, crippled human being. Then she met Jesus. And that's the hopeful message this morning – that there is no human condition that cannot be transformed by Jesus Christ. The simple message this morning is that there is no wounding of the human spirit, no crippling of the human person that cannot be reversed by the mighty power of God that appeared in Jesus Christ. I have read books this week because I knew I would be facing Mary this morning, as I faced you, and I knew the Bible says that out of her had gone seven demons, and I'm not one who easily believes in demons. I'm not one who easily believes in angels. I'm not one that easily believes in anything I can't get my hands around. And it's tough to be a preacher of the Gospel when you are also a person who is generally on a head-trip, intellectually oriented, and totally conditioned by the modern scientific method. I say, it's tough to be a preacher of the Gospel when your head keeps getting in the way. And so, I knew I had to start early, but I didn't start early, I simply went late. Reading, reading, reading. Hoping that now, finally, after all of these years of ministry, all these years of preaching the Gospel, all of these years of dealing with Gospels that have the Son of God and human cripples and the demonic and evil in them – that I might get some insight as to how darkness can come to indwell the human spirit and wound and cripple the human person, and how Jesus Christ can transform, setting the person free. Well, I could have just concentrated on the magnificence of the Magdalene in her devotion to Jesus, once she had been healed, and let it go at that. But I couldn't really do that, either, and so I have struggled and I have wrestled and, believe it or not, even prayed. Here is a story of a human being, a human being crippled. I know human beings crippled. I know human beings in this congregation this morning who are crippled, who are wounded, who are scarred, who are in the power of something from which they cannot break free. We come to church - what for? Religious obligation? That doesn't work here for very many anymore. We come here - for what? To hear some interesting word, some scintillating lecture, some good music? Not all bad. But, is that all? Who are you this morning who has entered the sanctuary and come into the presence of God and presented yourself? Is there not one here this morning who is wounded and crippled and broken, struggling with darkness, knowing the anguish of the desperation within for which there seems to be no liberating word? Let me tell you that Mary Magdalene must have been that kind of a person. She is portrayed movingly in some of the drama written about her. She has sparked the imagination of playwrights; she has caused the creativity of artists to flow. © Grand Valley State University �Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Because there she is, bound with seven demons, in the grip of darkness, meeting Jesus, life turned upside down! Changed. I've been changed. Yes, really changed. I don't know how to love him. He scares me so. I want him so. I love, him so. I've been changed. Yes, really changed. Have you come to church this morning to be changed? Have you come to church this morning conscious of bindings, bondage, unfreedom, darkness and desperation? I announce to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which says that he has the power to deliver you from whatever shackle binds your spirit. And he can transform you, wherever you are and whatever your condition, into a person that is whole and healthy, full of worship and praise, love and devotion. Jesus can make you new. I believe that. I don't understand it. I often wrestle with it. Jesus taught us to pray, saying, "... deliver us from the Evil One." I don't know anything about the Devil, Satan. I even get queasy when people talk about the Devil. Most of the time, when people say the Devil did this or that, I get to thinking, "Ah, don't blame it on the Devil. We are responsible and we are to be mature and we have a certain freedom to make our own decisions. Don't blame it on the snake." It's not easy for me to picture a universe in which there are, in reality, spiritual powers that impact our lives. But I believe it. In spite of myself, I believe it. And I believe the story of Mary Magdalene is in scripture as a sign of hope for every human being that would be set free. I read a document to which I referred some months ago, Healing The Family Tree, in dazed amazement as it tells about the reversing of incurable, irreversible human situations simply by believing prayer in Jesus' name for deliverance and for healing. Mary Magdalene marches before us this morning as a sign of hope. I confess before you that too many of you have come to me and I, with you, have too readily, too easily acquiesced to the givenness of the human situation. I have not had faith. I confess to you - I do it not as a rhetorical ploy. I confess to you that it is hard for me to believe! Do you hear me? So, I am preaching beyond my experience and I am preaching beyond my faith. I am preaching what the Bible says this morning, calling you to the possibility that your life could be set free if you believe in Jesus and asked him to set you free from whatever shackle or chain is weighing down the human spirit. Don't believe as I believe. Trust the word of God, and Jesus can heal you and change your life, whatever your human situation. © Grand Valley State University �Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled Richard A. Rhem Page 5   And so, this morning, as we close, I'll pray simply. To the extent that it is your prayer, you pray it after me. To the extent that you are serious and it reflects where you are, trust Jesus to do what you need him to do for you. He could change your life here and now. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, Living Christ, present here, present now, powerful here and powerful now, as on the occasion when you met Mary Magdalene. We, too, have demons aplenty raging within our hearts and minds. Assured of your love, assured of the sacrifice you offered once for all, assured that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, assured that the decree against us has been nailed to the Cross, assured that the guilt has been removed as far as the East is from the West, assured that every power of darkness has been conquered once for all on Easter morning, assured that you want for us life and wholeness, Lord Jesus, set us free. Set us free from whatever is binding us. Set us free from whatever has got us in its clutch. Set us free from all the powers of darkness. Lord Jesus, I believe. Set me free. Set me free. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source 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 XXV Series No Stained Glass Saints Scripture Text Luke 8:2, John 20:16 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-0-19861109 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-11-09 Title A name given to the resource Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 November 9, 1986 entitled "Mary Magdalene: Bedeviled", as part of the series "No Stained Glass Saints", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 8:2, John 20:16. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Freedom Hope Mary Magdalene Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1223610e5d2c58061a324a8c59259dfa.mp3 8bd64f4ab7f8f434d4eb309f8a6c5ae2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12ab3716818658641056afca62ceee92.pdf 788283e70bfb9f4a773724c65de742ef PDF Text Text The Church: From Tradition to Mission Text: Acts 6: 5, 8 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 30, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon The Church lives in a tension. It is always caught in the dilemma of having to find the forms and structures that will enable it to execute its mission to the world and having to remain open and flexible so that those very forms and structures do not bind the Spirit and paralyze the mission. The Church will inevitably develop tradition and must continually struggle free from that tradition in order to get on with the mission. Perhaps I should use traditionalism rather than tradition, for actually tradition is a positive factor in the life of the Church. There is a living tradition - the ongoing moving of the Faith embodied in the community of faith. Someone has said tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition rightly understood is a living, growing movement always being expanded, modified, enlarged in the light of experience, the experience of being in mission. But tradition can so easily become traditionalism. Then movement ceases and the mission is paralyzed. Thus the Church must be always vigilant, self-critical, humble before her Lord, ready to learn new truths, gain new insight and design new structures that will enable her in every age to be God's agent of reconciliation in the world. We cannot learn all we need to know about the form of the Church or the translation of the Gospel from the New Testament. We do have, however, in Acts and the Epistles some principles and models that can help us to find our way in our day. Let me use the early experience of the Church - the experience clustered around Stephen - out of which to make these very significant statements about the Church. These principles have been lived out in our past; they must remain our charter of freedom for the future as we seek to be God’s people – the instrument of His purpose and grace in our day. I want to say a word about Church structure, about Church growth, and about theological understanding. © Grand Valley State University   �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 2   My points are simple: The form of the Church must flow from the function of the Church. The growth of the Church must result from the care of the Church. The theology of the Church must be shaped by the experience of the Church. Form follows function. Growth rises from care. Knowledge is shaped by experience. First of all, from the story of Stephen we can see that structure flows out of mission; form follows function. You know the story. That beautiful community that took shape in the wake of Pentecost was a community of spontaneous sharing where no one considered his possessions his own but all shared their possessions so that none were in need. It was the true community of the Spirit and it was a beautiful sign of the presence of the Kingdom, but it did not last long. Soon the harmony was shattered. The Hellenist group - those who spoke Greek - complained that their widows were discriminated against in the distribution of food. The Apostles, deeply involved in the proclamation of the Gospel, saw the need of others to take responsibility for the physical needs of the community and they appointed seven whose names are listed in the sixth chapter of Acts, one of whom was Stephen. Although the name Deacon is not used we have generally seen that appointment as initiating the office of Deacon. However these seven were viewed, Stephen at least did not serve at table very long because soon we find him a powerful, persuasive preacher of the Gospel. But let me underscore the point I am trying to make - the Apostles met a specific crisis, a concrete historical situation with an improvisation of structure. Now, to be sure, there was as yet no set structure. In fact, from the New Testament it is impossible to derive a structure for the Church. Whatever form of Church structure may be followed - Episcopal as in the Roman Church, or Congregational, or Presbyterian as in Reformed Churches, all can find data in the New Testament but no one system of polity arises as we have developed them in our structure. Indeed Edward Schillebeeckx, the Dutch Catholic New Testament scholar, has published a book entitled, Ministry, in which he demonstrates beyond question that the Early Church in the first centuries after Christ had a fluid form of structure and government - a book by which he has not endeared himself with the Vatican. This should put us on notice that the forms and structures of the Church are negotiable and that a constantly changing historical milieu in which we minister will call for changing structures. Structures are negotiable. Jesus Christ remains the same. Form must follow function. © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 3   This may seem obvious enough. Yet how often do we not get bogged down in structural questions? We tend to absolutize forms that arose in a given situation to meet a specific need, freezing that form forever as though to change the structure would compromise the Gospel. Paul says, "Where the Spirit is there is freedom." The Spirit directed the mission of that Early Christian community, improvising forms into order to enable the community to function. We must live in that same freedom, determining how best to structure our life in order most effectively to get the Gospel out. The structure of the Church must flow out of the mission of the Church. My mentor, Professor Hendrikus Berkhof of the Netherlands, writes in his book Christian Faith in the chapter on the Church that the Book of Church Order must be done in loose-leaf today. The implications of that are far-reaching. If only we would remember that when classes and Synods convene we would save ourselves so much energy. We would avoid painful debate and endless discussion and we would be able to get on with the task. Otherwise we are simply playing Church and we are no good to God or the world. II. There is a second learning from this story that can aid us in getting the right perspective on our calling as the People of God. It is this: Growth is the consequence of community, a caring community. Certainly there was strong proclamation of the Gospel in those Apostolic days and my claim here in no way is meant to detract from that powerful proclamation of the Lordship of Christ. But from the window Luke gives us on the life of that early community we can see that it was indeed a community that the Spirit created. The description of the life of the community in the second chapter is a marvelous picture of a caring community, where no one was left out, no one's needs neglected and where the wellbeing of the whole community was the deepest concern of all its members. Barnabas’ action is a case in point. He sold his estate and brought the money to the Apostles. In that paragraph in the fourth chapter, we read, There was not a needy person among them.... Again we read, ... The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. Stephen and six others were appointed to see that the physical needs of the members of the community were met. The early Church was characterized by caring and that community life was so attractive that it drew thousands in those exciting days following Pentecost. © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 4   There is a great deal of talk about Church Growth in our day. At Pasadena, California, there is an Institute on Church Growth and from that center other leaders of the Church Growth movement have spun off. And, of course, who could or would desire to argue against Church Growth. The great Commission still stands and we are called to be witnesses to Jesus Christ bringing the message of His grace to the whole world including our own neighborhoods. Yet I sense sometimes that we get interested in Church Growth out of desperation. We see the statistics. We know if we do not turn things around many congregations will continue to wither and die. And so we decide to grow. Now it is true that a church must decide to grow and without that intentionality it is not likely that much will happen. Yet to aim at growth for growth’s sake is to commit a fatal error. Let me suggest that we must commit ourselves to be the People of God, a caring community reaching out in Jesus’ name to share the compassion of God, ministering His grace with no question asked. We are called to give our life away – literally to die that new life may spring forth. Church growth as I find it practiced today smacks too much of institutionalism, the preservation and perpetuation of our institutions. We get trapped into thinking that it is the institution - be it the denomination or our local congregation - that we must preserve when what God is asking is for a people willing to die to pride of tradition and denomination and congregational security and invest our lives in caring for the world. We get so turned in on ourselves and begin to feel that in our church we are ends in ourselves, forgetting that we are blessed of God to be a blessing to the world. Let me suggest that the Christian Church would do well to forget its heavy focus on evangelism and learn to love the world. We must concentrate on making our congregational life reflect the quality of the Spirit of Jesus. When we become a caring community the bruised and bleeding will come in seeking refuge, healing and grace. Harvie Conn, a professor of Mission at Westminster Theological Seminary, was the Pre-Synod Festival speaker at Kalamazoo this year. He had spent some years in Korea as a missionary before becoming a teacher. He told of the first year of language study which was so frustrating because he wanted to get on with the work but first he must master the language. After nearly a year when he was still very insecure in the language, he could not stand it any longer. He packed a bag and took a train to a Korean city where there was an army base. As he arrived he walked by the base entrance where the prostitutes were lined up. A Korean came up to him and asked if he were a Christian. He said yes and the Korean invited him to his home. He was a Christian pastor and opened his home to him. He was served a plate of uncooked, beaten rice for supper and then when it came time to retire, he learned he was to sleep with the pastor’s father, an old man who had asked him many questions. The family lived in very small quarters and he found that Grampa’s bedroom was really a small space between two buildings with © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 5   walls improvised to keep out the wind. Grampa had one blanket and Harvie simply got under the blanket with Grampa, sleeping on the ground. Two years later he received a letter from the pastor asking him to come to the village to baptize his father. He explained that his father had not been a believer. When Harvie ate the simple meal with the family and spent the night in those primitive circumstances without complaint, Grampa was impressed. He came to believe and now wanted to be baptized by Harvie. It was not the answers he gave in broken Korean, but the genuineness of his life, his love that penetrated the heart of that old man. It was the same thing with two prostitutes with whom he shared a meal. He learned a few years later that they had become Christians because for the first time in their lives a Christian had treated them like human beings. It is when God’s love becomes concrete in the love with which we touch another that one becomes open to grace. If only we could genuinely love the world, God would handle the rest and the result would be a growing Church. Growth flows out of care. III. The third learning I would share from this passage is that knowledge of God flows from experience of God. This is a word about our theology - the articulation of what we believe about God and His revelation of Himself to us in the New Testament. God revealed Himself in Jesus: ... if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That revelation in Jesus finds expression in the New Testament. The New Testament along with God’s revelation in Israel’s history is our Scripture and is the authoritative record in which we hear the Word of God, the witness inspired by the Spirit and the instrument the Spirit uses to reveal God to us today. From the Scripture the Church draws its knowledge of the Faith and, as that Scriptural knowledge mixes with our present experience, we seek to translate the Gospel for our day. The point I am seeking to make here is that there must be an ongoing encounter with the witness of the Scripture and the contemporary culture in order that the Gospel of God’s grace may come to expression in every age and generation in meaningful fashion. The Church historically has erred on two counts: The failure of orthodoxy has been to take the biblical record and absolutize it in every aspect - not only its witness to God’s grace and that salvation that appeared © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 6   in Jesus, but also the shape and form of that revelation - that is, the historical accoutrements of that revelation. The result has been the freezing of the Word of God in the thought forms and world and life view of the first century. The failure of classical Liberalism has been to fail to take seriously the biblical record as an authoritative norm by which every new expression of the Gospel must be judged, and to determine the "truth" only through analysis of the contemporary world with its "modern" understanding. There are two poles of knowledge by which our expression of the Gospel must be shaped - the biblical record and the contemporary scene. Both are important. It is meaningless to convey biblical knowledge with no attempt to translate that knowledge in terms of what we have learned in the explosion of knowledge in the modern world. It is equally meaningless to master the latest of scientific knowledge and cultural wisdom and fail to bring it into confrontation with the biblical word. The proclamation of the Gospel in every age must be a translation of the event of Jesus in the idiom of the day, which is the result of hearing the Gospel and possessing the best wisdom of the age. We must read the Bible and read the world. We must hear the witness of Scripture and be sensitive to the questions and insights of our age. Let me illustrate this from the experience of the Apostolic Church. Think for a moment of what radical revolution the understanding of the Apostles had to undergo to realize that God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself. It took a vision on the Damascus Road to break through to Paul. His fierce persecution of the followers of Jesus was his effort to stamp out a dangerous heresy. It was carried out in the name of the God of Israel. Peter did not understand that God’s grace was for all people, Jews and Gentiles, until the housetop vision and the experience at Cornelius’ house, where he experienced the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit just as had the Disciples on Pentecost. Look at the Scripture lesson – Stephen’s great witness that brought him to martyrdom. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, and gazing intently up to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. "Look, he said, there is a rift in the sky; I can see the Son of Man standing at God's right hand!” Acts 7:i>5-56 What a moving spectacle that must have been. Stephen, about to be the first martyr for Jesus because he had been the first to see and understand deeply all that had been accomplished in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection – because, © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 7   therefore, he was the first eloquent witness - and witness and martyr are the same word in Greek - Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand and he cried to all present, oblivious to the hostility and violence breeding in their breasts – There is a rift in the sky! I can see…! And there you have it; all the ingredients that eventuated in the historic Church’s confession that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are One God, blessed forever. The Risen Lord has promised He would not leave His own alone but would come to them and He did. On the day of Pentecost those gathered in the Upper Room knew a power and a Presence that overwhelmed them with the conviction that God was in their midst, that the Spirit of Jesus was with them, that the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of God was one Spirit and suddenly it all became clear; they began to comprehend what God had been doing in and through His Servant Jesus. It took a long time for the Church to be able to articulate that experience – centuries, in fact. The need to give expression to experience was obvious, for they were called to be witnesses to the world, but that was not so simple, for how does one express the inexpressible? The Christian mission advanced through the Hellenistic world shaped by Greek language and Greek thought forms. Greek philosophy was the highest expression of human reflection on life’s ultimate issues. Christian apologists borrowed the language and the philosophical concepts and did their best to say, God has visited this world. God revealed Himself in Jesus. The Spirit of God is with us, dwelling in us. After centuries of struggle to articulate the experience of the Apostolic community and the ongoing experience of the Church, creedal formulations were advanced - the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian formula - with which the Church has lived all these centuries. My point is that creeds derive from experience and those first Apostles had to do some radical revising of their theological understanding in the light of what confronted them in Jesus, his cross and resurrection and the baptism of the Spirit. To be sure, God’s dramatic intervention in our history was in Jesus. What happened in Jesus became normative for every subsequent age. But history is dynamic, history is movement and we continue to gain knowledge and understanding of our world, of history, of ourselves. All of that must be understood in the light of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ must be proclaimed in the light of that knowledge . © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 8   Jesus Christ is the answer. That is true for every age. But what is the question? The question that moves the human heart will be variously formulated in every age and it is the task of the Church to listen for the questions and then speak to the questions the Gospel in ever-new translation. Therefore, theological understanding will be dynamic, just as history is dynamic. Theology is derived from two poles - one rooted in a concrete history, the history of Israel and Jesus, one moving with each new age and generation. Theology must be the expression of God’s grace and salvation in Jesus in terms of contemporary culture in order that the timeless Gospel may come to timely expression. Knowledge of God and experience of God are reciprocal. The knowledge in which we are nurtured prepares us for the experience of God in our life situation and out of the experience of God in concrete living our knowledge is reshaped and translated anew. Thus we do not have the knowledge of God expressed in creeds once for all with the last word spoken. We have the knowledge of God revealed in Jesus coming to ever-new expression in every new historical context. It is thus that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Stephen’s death was an eloquent witness to the insight of faith he had received. He died as Jesus died. He was filled with the Holy Spirit; he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. Stephen saw a "rift in the sky;" he was given a vision of God. The reality of his faith and knowledge was demonstrated in the manner of his death. In the midst of a violent crowd with murderous intent he gazed into heaven. They stoned him but he, falling to his knees, prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them. With that, he "fell asleep." Is that not a remarkable description of the manner of death of one being stoned by an angry crowd? And is not the truest test of one’s knowledge and faith the way one lives and dies? What a dynamic movement the Church was in those days. A handful of convinced and committed disciples turned the world upside down. The Cross conquered the mighty Empire of Rome. It could happen again if we stopped arguing about structure and got on with the mission; stopped worrying about bringing everyone into line with our faith formulas and simply loved the world; stopped debating doctrinal points that divide and allowed the Gospel to come to ever-new expression. © Grand Valley State University �The Church: From Tradition to Mission Richard A. Rhem   Page 9   If, in a word, we could move from tradition to mission, we might become again a fruitful instrument in the Master’s hand for the salvation of the world and the triumph of the Kingdom of 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 Pentecost V Scripture Text Acts 6: 5, 8 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-0-19850630 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-06-30 Title A name given to the resource The Church: From Tradition to Mission Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 30, 1985 entitled "The Church: From Tradition to Mission", on the occasion of Pentecost V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 6: 5, 8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Creeds Followers of Jesus Grace Mission Nature of Theology Non-exclusive Pluralism Stephen Traditionalsim https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30efd72a365ac1ef2f695ed2119482b5.mp3 3d215c3b370b35f117dc19a602431d1f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/69bf57baa7f46260026bf9181618c0e1.pdf e25215b622cdfb94575ac450564b7894 PDF Text Text Living From Commitment From the sermon series: Lifelines Text: Luke 14: 27, 33 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany II, January 20, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Noone who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine…none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 27, 33 To commit is to entrust oneself to another. In the Christian Faith it is to entrust one's life to God through Jesus Christ. It is to turn over the controls of one's life to Christ, to yield to His Lordship, to recognize Him as one's sovereign, one's King. The Christian Life is a life lived out of commitment to Jesus Christ. That commitment involves the whole of life; every area of life is affected - human relationships, vocational decisions, attitudes, political and economic decisions. In the Christian understanding of things, one's spiritual commitment is not one dimension of life among others, but the primary decision of life which shapes all others. It is also the Christian understanding of human existence that yielding one's life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not to lose one's life, but rather to come into the fullest possible realization of being, of a truly, fully human existence. I begin with this message a series entitled, "Lifelines." It will be my purpose to show that the total commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ and the consequences of that commitment, or the living out of that commitment lead to life in its fullness. Commitment to Christ and the disciplines of Christian living are Lifelines. In this series we will focus on several facets of the Christian life in order to find the path to the abundant life Jesus came to bring and which He makes available to us. Before we examine some of the disciplines of life, however, let us begin with the recognition that the call of Jesus to follow Him involves us in a costly choice: He calls us to radical commitment. Radical is a word deliberately chosen. It comes © Grand Valley State University   �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 2   from radix, root. The call to follow Jesus reaches to the very root of our existence. His claim and call are uncompromising. His claim and call are serious. He would shape us from the core of our being so that the attitude and actions of our daily lives are the fruit of that one primary and fundamental commitment to be His disciple. The choice of texts presented a problem only because there are so many possibilities. The Gospels carry the theme repeated in various contexts. I point you to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 14. The paragraph beginning with verse 25 begins, Once, when great crowds were accompanying him… No one could accuse Jesus of inviting followers on false pretenses. He always laid it on the line. Obviously He was not running for election. He was not astute at winning friends and influencing people. There was nothing manipulative in His manner. He was a person consumed with God and the Kingdom of God He came to inaugurate. In the vivid language of the East, He put it this way when the crowd swelled and He feared there were many following without really understanding what was at stake. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine. …none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 25-33 The sharpness of the saying jars us and that is precisely its purpose. To hate means literally to love less and the counsel is obviously not hatred in intimate human relationships which are sacred but simply to say there is no relationship or claim upon the disciple of Jesus which takes precedence over the claim of Jesus on our lives. The renunciation of possessions was a familiar model for conversion in the world of Jesus. The gentile who converted to the God of Israel was called to such a oncefor-all act of renunciation, which entailed a break with one's social relationships. Edward Schillebeeckx, in his book, Jesus, points out that this pattern was taken over from late Judaism. Being converted meant in practice surrendering all one's possessions, becoming odious, having to leave father and mother, etc., and all one's worldly goods. The radical break with the past was called for by Jesus in light of the coming rule of God. The narrative of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus illustrates that this young man was not ready for radical conversion because he was unwilling to renounce all and give to the poor. The actual surrender of all material goods was the sign of a true conversion. As for the call to cross bearing, that was a familiar sight in the Palestine of Jesus' day. Crucifixion was the fate of the Zealots who were always plotting against the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Roman occupiers. Once again here, cross bearing was a sign of the willingness to lay down one's life and Jesus' own death on the cross became the concrete illustration of the cost of discipleship. Cross bearing was the willing assumption of the suffering involved in following Jesus and aligning oneself with the cause of the Kingdom of God. It is voluntary. It is not a burden thrust on one about which one can do nothing; it is an active assumption of the consequences of following Jesus. All of the imagery of this paragraph and the others liberally sprinkled throughout the Gospels speak of death, the dying to self. In his book, Alive in Christ, Maxie Dunnam tells of a friend, Brother Sam, a Benedictine monk who shared with him the service in which he took his solemn vows and made his life commitment to the Benedictine community and the monastic life. On that occasion he prostrated himself before the altar of the chapel in the very spot where his coffin will be set when he dies. Covered in a funeral pall, the death bell that tolls at the earthly parting of a brother sounded the solemn gongs of death. There was silence - the silence of death. The silence of the gathered community was broken by the singing of the Colossian words, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. " (Col. 3:3). After that powerful word, there was more silence as Brother Sam reflected on his solemn vow. Then the community broke into song with the words of Psalm 118, which is always a part of the Easter liturgy in the Benedictine community: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the words of the Lord. " (Psalm 118:17 King James Version). After this resurrection proclamation, the deacon shouted the works from Ephesians: "Awake, O Sleepers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Eph. 5:14). Then the bells of the Abbey rang loudly and joyfully. Brother Sam rose, the funeral pall fell off, and the robe of the Benedictine Order was placed on him. He received the kiss of peace and was welcomed into the community to live a life "hid in Christ." (p. 27F) That is a beautiful ritual, a vivid image of the call to discipleship, not just to monastic orders. Jesus calls us to life through death, the death of self, selfcontrol, self-life. That this is the call of Jesus and that His claim on our lives is absolute there can be little argument. But granting that, how do we live that out in our world in our day? What does it mean to follow Jesus today? We have just been reminded of one of our own generation who put his life on the line and paid the supreme price for his discipleship. Martin Luther King said shortly before he fell from an assassin's bullet: © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my funeral. ...I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long... Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize... Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards... I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody... Say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace. That I was a drum major for righteousness, and all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. February 4, 1968 And he did. Would anyone say he was a failure? About three years ago Archbishop Romero was likewise gunned down while saying Mass in EL Salvador. He was killed because his call to discipleship led him to take up the cause of the poor and oppressed in that troubled nation. The moving film, "Gandhi," has reminded us again recently of that great spiritual leader who changed the face of India and he too took an assassin's bullet. Around the world today many languish in prisons because they have espoused unpopular causes in situations of tyranny. Our world is no stranger to the violent death that pursues those that seek to bring justice and righteousness to bear on the concrete conditions of humankind. But what of ordinary mortals like you and me living in the safety and security of Western Michigan? What does it mean for us to live from commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord? Sometimes I fear we put discipleship out of reach when we speak of King and Gandhi and of course, Jesus, who remains the preeminent model. One hardly knows where to begin and certainly there are many more things to say than can be dealt with in the compass of this message. Yet we can say some, things. First, the call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. There are not two Gods. The God of grace Who in Jesus has touched our world is the only true God and His heart is love and His movement toward us is gracious. In the face of Jesus we have seen into the heart of God. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 5   This is the God of tender compassion Whose love will not give up on His people, Whose judgment is the other side of His love with the intention of calling His people to their senses and to return unto Him. The call to commitment is issued by Jesus Whose heart was moved with compassion because the people were restless, harassed, like sheep without a shepherd; Jesus Who said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." The call comes from one Who dealt tenderly with the weak and embraced the sinner, offering unconditional acceptance and a continuing positive regard for persons. It must be obvious then that total commitment is not the call of a despotic sadist who enjoys seeing people on the rack. A second thing that comes to mind is that the call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. Any cursory reading of the Gospels will detect a strong strain of anger in Jesus, anger directed toward the most religious groups of the day. His anger was not a disapproval of religious practice as such but against religious practice as a way of self-righteousness, selfjustification before God, religious practice that was outward conformity to structured ritual and ceremony without corresponding inwardness, religious practice that fulfilled institutional demands but was exercised apart from the more important matters of love, justice and mercy. A third observation I would make is that the call to commitment transcends institutional structures. Perhaps I can put it simply this way: Jesus calls persons to life in God, not simply to join the Church. By now you know me well enough to know that I consider the institutional form of the Church as a necessary evil. Spirit needs form and apart from the institutionalization of the Gospel in the community with creeds and rituals and forms of organization, the Gospel would not have reached us. All organized religion involves a set of rites, an ethical code and a body of doctrine. The institutional Church - just like the Judaism of Jesus' day, consists of rituals, ethics and doctrines and these structures become the vehicle by which religious reality is mediated from one generation to the next. By these institutional forms – rituals for worship, rules for conduct, articles of faith for understanding – a religious system is shaped which is the carrier, the mediator, of religious belief and practice. But when Jesus called to commitment he was calling persons to something more than institutional loyalty. In fact, it was the perception that He was a very great threat to the institution that got Him crucified. There was fear for the Law and the Temple. He dared point beyond Law and Temple to the God toward Whom both Law and Temple pointed, thus relativizing Law and Temple in the face of the absolute demand of God. Keeping the Law was not an end in itself; rather the Law was God's gift to Israel that they might find fullness of life. The Temple was not an end in itself; rather it © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 6   was the place where altar and sacrifice and Priesthood were present to mediate the presence of God to the worshiper and bring him beyond the outward forms into the gracious presence of his God. That would suggest a fourth comment: The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. Here I am not saying anything not already mentioned, but I say this explicitly lest I be understood to be cavalier about institutionalized religion. How could I be? My whole life is spent in the cause of institutional religion because I see in it the only means by which the Truth of God may be conveyed and the worship and service of God cultivated, through which God is glorified and His people led into the fullness of life. There are rare souls that seem to be able to go it alone, to find the ecstasy of mystical contemplation of God in splendid isolation, but such is not possible for many. And even those who find the vision of God in the solitude of contemplation did not learn of God in a vacuum. The institution is necessary; its forms and structures are the vehicle upon which the Truth of God is conveyed. They are the signs pointing beyond themselves to the mystery of God and apart from them the vision would soon die. The institution also provides the social structure within which we are aided in the spiritual quest. We are social beings. We do not live as isolated atoms in the Universe. We are bound together in the bundle of life. We were created for community and we need the support and encouragement of one another. Personal devotion is essential; contemplation in solitude is essential. But such cannot take the place of corporate worship when as one body we are caught up into the presence of God and lose ourselves in the wonder of worship. The purpose of religious structures then is to mediate the knowledge and experience of God. If we did not have them we would have no access to God but if, having them, we never rise beyond them, we will never experience the mystery of God. Charles Davis says it well: Religion is the drive toward transcendence, the thrust of man out of and beyond himself, out of and beyond the limited order under which he lives, in an attempt to open himself to the totality of existence and reach unlimited reality and ultimate value. This drive cannot be confined to the observance of a moral code, settling questions of right and wrong within a limited frame of reference. The person who is merely moral knows nothing of the heights and depths of human experience and existence. Even a religious system set up to mediate the drive toward transcendence cannot contain it. It never fits exactly and at its best is inadequate © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 7   precisely because it is in itself limited and relative, not transcendent and absolute. (The Temptations of Religion, p. 73) Again, David writes, For religion the relativity of any human order of truth and value indicates its mediating function. Its purpose is to become transparent, to lead beyond itself and mediate a transcendent experience. Summarizing what we have said: 1. The call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. 2. The call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. 3. The call to commitment transcends institutional structure. 4. The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. If the above statements are true, then it must be evident that the call to commitment is a serious call to find the highest possible human fulfillment in a life whose first priority is the worship and service of God. God has made us for Himself. There is a hunger in the human heart for God. The universality of religion would seem to demonstrate that. To be sure that claim has been disputed and it does seem in our day there are many who live "onedimensional" lives with no transcendent reference, no worship, no sense of mystery beyond the human and the mundane. Yet our day would also seem to witness to that hunger for transcendence. We speak of the younger generation "turning East." With the lessening of influence of the traditional Church we have seen a rise of the cults and bizarre expression of religious devotion. Ernest Becker, the noted scholar in the field of psychoanalysis finds in the human being a longing for the heroic. He sees a universal fear of death but not the fear of extinction so much as extinction without meaning. We want our lives to be significant, to mean something, to find ourselves caught up in something bigger than ourselves. Although he does not profess to be a Christian thinker, he finds great truth in Kierkegaard who found in the Gospel's call to total commitment that which lifted the person out of himself and satisfied his longing for meaning, (cf. The Denial of Death). © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 8   God calls us to Himself not that He may be enhanced in His Sovereign Rule, but because God is love and love would bestow the best and highest gift on the creature made after His own image. The truth of Jesus' words has been proven over and over throughout the centuries. To grasp on to one's life is to lose it; to lose one's life in the service of Jesus and the Gospel is to find it. Thus the call to commitment is an invitation to experience Life at its highest. It is the call of the gracious God in Jesus Christ to experience abundant life. If that is true, then it must be evident that the successful living out of one's commitment is always threatened from two directions: a. From the danger of absolutizing the institution and its form and structure; b. From the danger of abandoning the institution or giving it only slight regard. The first danger is succumbed to by the religious. Jesus' greatest foes were the highly religious: those who absolutized the established form of Jewish faith, who made idols of Temple and Law and ritual. One can see this so very prevalent in our own day with the upsurge of visibility and volubility of the religious Right. Fundamentalism has become militant in our country as illustrated by the conflict over Creationism and Evolutionism. One can see it also in the mean-spirited militancy that crusades against abortion and the rights of homosexuals. There is little civility in the debate on issues in which there can certainly be differences of opinion. In great emotional display evidencing deep-seated anger, we see people demonstrate for God and Truth as though they had some corner on the truth. What they have done is absolutize their position, which is limited and relative because it is a human perspective on divine truth, not that truth itself. One can see the danger of absolutizing the institution where people are controlled and manipulated by religious leaders. Often the implication is if you do not follow my leading or support my program, or serve in my institution, you can have no part in the Kingdom. But there is danger on the other side, as well. Too many have "progressed" to where they recognize that God and the institutional forms structured to give access to Him are not synonymous and have thus simply written off the institution and the practice of religious life. One theologian of sorts writes that he doesn't need the institution or the symbols anymore. Growing up as a Scottish Presbyterian, it was all so deeply ingrained “that he can go on without it.” Fine. But who will tell his children and provide the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 9   experience in which they might be overwhelmed with the mystery of God? Who will pass the torch of faith and maintain the community of faith for the generations yet unborn? For many years now at Christ Community I have chosen the difficult path of teaching you that our creedal statements are not the last word, our way of worship is not the only form of true worship, our grasp of the Christian life must always be open to examination. Our institutional life and structure is not absolute; our program as a congregation is not synonymous with God's perfect will. Yet I have called you to commitment to Christ and the Church and its life here, recognizing we have blinders, we are flawed, and we stand always in need of correction and further insight. What "sells" today is to reduce complex issues to simple formulas, claiming they are absolute, beating the drums, whipping up the emotions and leading a crusade. Such has not been my style nor the posture of this congregation. We have sought rather to be both Civil and Committed. Is it possible to recognize the relativity of our grasp of God's Truth and of the structures of our life and worship and yet be totally committed to God through Christ in the life and mission of the Church? I believe it is. I would hope that I might myself be "Exhibit A." I believe in what we are about here. I commit myself unreservedly to it, even though I recognize the flawed nature of all we do and are. This is the kind of commitment to which I call you. Spirit needs form. Faith needs structure. The Gospel of Christ will be perpetuated from one generation to another only if we maintain the community of faith, flawed though its every expression is, relative though its grasp of Truth may be, partial though its obedience always is. The cause of the Kingdom of God is carried on in the world by people like us for whom God is a priority, who, having found Him gracious, find the fullest experience of being human in the worship and service of His Name. We have striven never to come off as laying on you heavy duty and obligation. Rather, we have sought to lead you into the joy of losing yourself in the service of God. The Gospel paradox is true - greedily grasp your life to yourself and lose it; give your life away for Jesus' sake and find it. You don't have to do anything. God loves you anyway. But in failing to find yourself, your gifts and energies in the employ of God, you lose out on the deepest joy of being human. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page10   God's claim on you is absolute; Jesus' call to commitment is total, because God being the fountain of love would give Himself to you as you offer yourself to Him in response to His redeeming grace. Thus I set before you the key lifeline: Commitment. Living from commitment is to live fully, richly, deeply. It is the abundant life. © 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 Series LifeLines Scripture Text Luke 14: 27, 33 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-0-19850120 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-20 Title A name given to the resource Living from Commitment Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 20, 1985 entitled "Living from Commitment", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 14: 27, 33. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Epiphany Followers of Jesus Institutional Religion Nature of Religion Spiritual Quest Transcendence Worship