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The Ground of Hope
Article by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
The Church Herald
The Magazine of the Reformed Church in America
December 20, 1985, pp. 6-7
Our hope for the future is grounded in what God has done in the past
We have kept Advent, the time of waiting, of expectation. We have rehearsed
faith's vision in the midst of the puzzle of history. In this time between the times
we live by the vision, trusting that the King will come and we will understand.
The King will surely come; that is faith's vision, a vision grounded in the fact that
the King has come. If Advent is the time of expectation, Christmas is the time of
fulfillment. Into the puzzle of our history a child was born, and in that fully
human existence a light penetrated our darkness, and the darkness has never
overcome it. Our hope for the future is grounded in what God has done in the
past.
To celebrate Christmas is to discover the ground of our hope as we grope through
the darkness which is the puzzle of history. The King who is coming is the King
who has come. We are a people of hope, a hope grounded in the past enabling us
already to appropriate the future that still lies before us, living in the assurance of
things hoped for.
Christian hope is hope in God. Stating what may seem obvious is an attempt to
distinguish the Christian hope from today's cheapened hope, a worldly term for
wishful thinking regarding a thousand matters from the ridiculous to the
sublime: Will you win the game? I hope so. Will you have more sales in 1986 than
in 1985? I hope so. Will your health improve? I hope so.
Hope has become a catch-all word for all sorts of situations and conditions that
we would like to see happen or become realized. Hope in this sense refers to an
uncertain outcome. We do not know; we cannot tell; we “hope so.” That is not
Christian hope. Christian hope is hope in God. It is certain.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Ground of Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
There is another distinction. We use hope in its cheapened sense to express our
wish that something happens but about which we are uncertain. We also are then
using it to refer to a favorable outcome which lies within our capacity to bring
about: Will you win the game? I hope so—but the outcome is uncertain. Yet, I do
have it in my capacity to win the game if I play well, if I practice and am ready, if I
do not make the big mistake. Will you have more sales in 1986 than 1985? I hope
so—but I am not certain. Yet it is very possible, if I work hard; if I make sufficient
calls; if production is there. Will your health improve? I hope so—but I cannot be
sure. We enter a gray area because my health is not wholly within my power. Yet,
if I eat properly, get proper rest, exercise, and avoid stress, I can certainly
influence the outcome. Thus, in the cheapened sense of hope in contemporary
usage, hope refers to that which is uncertain, but is within my power to effect.
Biblical hope is something quite other. Biblical hope is in God; it is the present
certainty of what will be a future possession; it is certain of that which is
impossible in terms of human capacity.
As far as the quality of certainty is concerned, I simply refer you to the testimony
of Scripture. Biblical religion is a religion of certainty. I am not speaking now of
dogmatism. Surely there has been far too much dogmatism and far too many
dogmatic people in the history of the church. There is a lust for certainty in the
human heart and certainty about things that remain veiled in mystery. The Bible
is no answer book for all the questions of the less than serious curious ones. Too
many religious people “know” too much.
The Bible is, however, a book of certainty about the matters of ultimate concern:
That God is. That God is gracious. That God's kingdom will fully come. Biblical
religion in those ultimate matters is serious and certain. It is hope-full, not “hope
so.” It is the present certainty of what will be a future possession.
Further, it is certain of what is impossible in terms of human capacity. Let me
raise some questions to demonstrate that biblical hope is fastened on that which
lies beyond human capacity to effect.
Will there be a new creation as spoken of by Isaiah and in the Revelation to John?
Our Advent affirmation was yes. Will it come through human planning and
ingenuity? Will it come through human goodwill and harmony? Will some
president, king, or dictator arise who will effect it? Will it come through the
progressive education of the race, some evolutionary development?
Only the naive, the simple, the one ignorant of the human story could answer
affirmatively or even “I hope so.” Will there be life after life? The biblical faith
says yes. Will it come through medical research and the development of new
technology? Will death be defeated by future breakthroughs in science?
I need not go on. What all that conjured up is not only scarcely thinkable, it is not
desirable. It is apparent that biblical hope is certitude about a future reality which
© Grand Valley State University
�The Ground of Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
lies beyond human capacity to achieve. Hope reaches beyond what is possible.
Hope claims a future that can come only as the result of an act of God.
Living in hope means living in the tension between now and then. There is a great
difference between present experience and the future for which we hope. This gap
between the vision and reality, between the ideal and the real, becomes
understandable in terms of the hope of which Scripture teaches. That hope is
grounded in the Christmas event.
Life is difficult. Human experience is thoroughly laced with suffering. Many have
had their faith in God shattered on the rocks of human suffering and evil in the
world. Such people have never been taught the true biblical faith because biblical
faith will not be eviscerated by suffering but is rather the means for
understanding precisely the hard reality of human experience. Our life is caught
in the tension. The darkness is not denied, but the darkness is not ultimate; the
Light has come and the light shines in our darkness. Therefore we endure; we live
in hope.
Hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God which came to expression at
Christmas. God has acted. Hope has been vindicated. God has visited his people;
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
We have seen the heart of God in the face of Jesus. Generations waited through
long centuries and then—Mary had a baby. Jesus was the fulfillment of God's
promise and in him redemption was accomplished—we have been saved. There is
a history to look back upon and a dramatic intervention in the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus to remember and in which to trust. God did move in
faithfulness to his promises, and that move at history’s midpoint proved the
ground of a new promise, a new expectation, a new hope.
God's redemptive plan has touched down. He has connected with our history. He
has shown himself faithful in our past. Therefore our hope is grounded in history
and we have an anchor to which to hold as we wait in expectation. As we
celebrate another Christmas we acknowledge that we see only puzzling reflections
in a mirror, but our hope is renewed as we remember his coming and we wait in
hope for the day we will see him face to face.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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RA-4-19851220
Date
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1985-12-20
Type
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Text
Title
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The Ground of Hope
Publisher
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The Church School Herald Journal
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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eng
Description
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Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 1985 entitled "The Ground of Hope", it appeared in The Church Herald, pp. 6-7. Tags: Advent, Hope, God of Grace, Faithful.
Format
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application/pdf
Advent
Faithful
God of Grace
Hope