1 24 12 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ad3714b2e8f6d3762f130322913347d6.pdf 4fd033f50ae55d8c70be0fdd814b33a4 PDF Text Text Trust That Survives Tragedy From the sermon series on the biblical story of Israel Text: Habakkuk 3:17-19; Psalm 137:1 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XXVI, November 20, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;…yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-19 By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. Psalm 137:1 Israel's story—we have been following in broad strokes the story of that people. We have been following the story of the people of Israel because it is our story. The Christian movement that follows in the wake of Jesus is a movement that comes out of the womb of Israel, for Jesus never intended to be more than an observant Jew. The God of Israel was his God. The scriptures of Israel were his scriptures. The hope of Israel was his hope. So for us to understand ourselves, we need to understand that story. For it is that story that has shaped our identity as well. We have followed in broad strokes that story, seeing the beginning of Israel created in the exodus event, when under the leadership of Moses, Israel was set free from the oppression of Egypt's bondage. We followed them through the wilderness and into the promised land, into Canaan or Palestine, as we would call it. We saw them move from a loosely connected tribal confederacy to a monarchy in order that they might be a nation as other nations. But there was a difference because, with the rise of the monarch, there was also the rise of the prophetic word, the prophetic voice that was spoken into the social, economic and political arena of the life of Israel. The king of Israel was reminded ever and again that he was not really absolute, not really sovereign, for he served by the grace of God and under the sovereignty of God, who alone is the sovereign of heaven and earth and the course of human affairs. We find them now after that kingdom had gone on for a couple of centuries with a moment of glory, a golden age, and then downhill all the way. We find them in 722 B.C., the northern kingdom dispersed by the great Assyrian empire, the © Grand Valley State University   �Trust That Survives Tragedy Richard A. Rhem Page 2   southern kingdom, Judah, remaining yet for a time. But in 587 Judah too, is ripped from her roots, the temple burned, the walls of Jerusalem thrown down, and the cream of the crop of Judah brought in exile to Babylon. That's where we find them today. And, it's not the end of the story. But with Advent Sunday coming next Sunday, the season of Advent, I'll have opportunity to tell you more of the story. For the Advent hope is really a reflection of the hope of Israel. The amazing thing is that, although Judah is in exile in a foreign land, what might have been the end was not the end, for Judah survives and indeed Israel survives. And that is the amazing truth that I would have you focus on today. The fact that out of the tragedy and disaster, the natural catastrophe that overcame this people whose sorrow and sadness was expressed so plaintively in Psalm 137, there is yet a continuing people because, paradoxically and surprisingly, it happened as it happens so often that, in the midst of tragedy, trust is kindled, and out of trust hope is born, and hope lays hold of newness. That's an amazing truth. It is one of the wonderful learnings from the whole Biblical story that tragedy rather than being the end so often becomes prelude to a new beginning. That in tragedy trust is born, and from trust hope springs, and out of the hope, newness arrives. It is really an amazing paradox. It is one of the great values of learning the Biblical story, of being steeped in that Biblical tradition. There's nothing there that denies the darkness. There's nothing there that denies the tragedy. The plaintive tone of Psalm 137 expresses the despair of a people who are being mocked by their conquerors, who say, "Sing us a song." And they say, "We can't sing a song in a foreign land." Then they begin to remember Jerusalem. And isn't it often the case in our experience that we begin to remember and to value what we have lost? It was in the tragedy of the exile that they began to remember, and caused them to dig deeper into the spiritual depths of that tradition that had shaped them as a people. Psalm 137. The last verses were not sung for you, for how can you sing expressions of raw anger. The last couple of verses of Psalm 137 are verses that those of us of delicate taste would wish were not even in the Scripture. They are expressions of anger and hatred so violent that they could hardly be duplicated, the hatred and the anger focused at the conquering Babylonians. The awful expression that chills us. "I would that your little ones were dashed against a stone." But, it's there and it is true to human experience. No, don't hear me saying this morning that the darkness isn't really so dark, or the coldness not so cold, or the tragedy not so bad. That's not being faithful to the Biblical story. Habakkuk, for example. Habakkuk looked about him also. He was living right at this hinge-point also. He looked about and he saw the chaos and the corruption and the violence. He cried out to God, as we have done as well, have we not? "Oh God, how long... how long?" The mystery of the world is the absence of God when all goes wrong. Where is God? How long, O Lord, will you cause me to see this violence? How long will you withhold your hand? Where are you? in other words. Then there comes to the prophet this consciousness: I am doing a work in your © Grand Valley State University �Trust That Survives Tragedy Richard A. Rhem Page 3   day that you wouldn't believe if you knew it. I am doing a work in your day, invisible, unknown to peasant and king alike. But be sure that history is not simply unraveling apart from my presence. So the prophet says, "I'll go into the watch tower of faith and I will wait to see the vision. The Word of the Lord comes to him saying, "Write this vision large so that one running will be able to read it. Wait for the vision for it will surely come. Know this that the unjust will fail, but the righteous one will live by faith." Then the vision comes and in panoramic view he sees, as though the film is flashing through his mind, the history of his people. In response to that vision we have that marvelous expression of devotion and praise: "Although I am stripped bare of everything, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will exalt in the God of my salvation." How do you figure it? How do you figure it? Will you note this morning that I am not trying to explain it, but I am pointing to it. I am pointing to a phenomenon concrete in history, Israel's history. As I said a moment ago, Israel survived. And then I added, "and survives." Israel survives. When there was no human reason for it to survive except that it remembered and began again to believe and to hope and to grasp a new beginning. Ah, a conviction that somehow or other there is some presence or some power engaged with this whole historical process which we cannot discern or explain, and yet in which we trust. Was that it? Wasn't that it for Habakkuk? Wasn't that it when he was able to say, "Take everything away - the crops from the field and the herd from the stall - take it all away and I will yet rejoice in God, my strength. I will exalt in the God of my salvation." How do you explain it? That indomitable trust that issues in hope, that waits for newness. It is not naive. A faith that has as its center a cross on which one was crucified cannot be naive. Israel that survives cannot be naive when it looks back in its own recent history to the cremation of six million of its number in the Holocaust, standing there as a hard knock in human history. Who can believe after the Holocaust? Who could believe after the son of God was crucified? Who could believe? That's the mystery of faith. I can't explain it. But it's not head-in-the-sand stuff. It's not pie-in-the-sky stuff. It's the stuff of human experience out of which amazingly the human spirit yet trusts and hopes and grasps the dawning of a new day. That's the miracle, which I cannot explain, but to which I point you and why it's so important that we know that story. That's why some weeks ago I began this whole tale, because I remember my old professor Berkhof who told me that he couldn't speak to the younger generation in secularized society because he said, "They are not prodigals." The prodigals still knew there was a home and a parent. They are not prodigals; they are the children of the prodigals. The children of the prodigals don't even know there's a home or a father. They have no center — homeless. The sign of the end of the end of the twentieth century, masses of people homeless, adrift, estranged and © Grand Valley State University �Trust That Survives Tragedy Richard A. Rhem Page 4   alienated, exiled. One of the Biblical images that best bespeaks our own day is homelessness. No rootage. No place to stand. The story, which continues to be told, doesn't explain, but it points us to a reality and that is there is no night so dark but what the dawn will follow. Trust is that which enables one or a people to survive tragedy, to experience loss, to come to total despair only to find indomitable faith rising, hope springing, newness dawning. That's the wonder of the tradition, which has shaped us and given us birth and which we keep alive by telling the story to those brought to the baptismal font today, in order that with us they may place their trust in the God, the God of Israel, the God of Jesus. Next Sunday, Advent I, we'll sing, "O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here." And it will be our cry. We'll speak the Advent word, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people says your God." And we'll find our faith renewed and our hope restored that that same God will surely bring us home. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2480aff3003169db610f067eecaeae80.mp3 ee5c3bae483e74953e3a9919e94304d1 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 The First Testament Scripture Text Habakkuk 3:17-19, Psalm 137:1 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-0-19941120 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-11-20 Title A name given to the resource Trust That Survives Tragedy 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 20, 1994 entitled "Trust That Survives Tragedy", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Habakkuk 3:17-19, Psalm 137:1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Faith History of Israel Mystery Tradition Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e9f60a375d2f729ab7d8dc79453a6b1.pdf f513cd5db928d66dccd187ffcbc1cd6c PDF Text Text Speaking Truth to Power Pentecost XXV Text: Amos 7:15-16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 13, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "… and the Lord took me . . . and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel. Now therefore hear the word of the Lord." Amos 7:15-16 In our survey of the story of Israel, the Hebrew Scriptures, we came two weeks ago to Israel having moved into its Promised Land, into Canaan. It was after a century of more of existence in that land as the tribal confederacy where the tribes lived pretty much independently, but came together annually to renew the covenant, at a time of crisis, and where God would then raise up a leader for the occasion. After that period of time of settling in, there were voices being raised that they wanted a king – they would be like other nations. The great spiritual leader, Samuel, prophet, priest and judge, gave them a stern warning. He reminded them that they were a people who had been born in the exodus, set free by God from the oppression of tyranny, and he warned them that to put a king on a throne would be to put themselves in peril of returning to that same kind of tyrannical rule. The king would tax them, take their sons and daughters, conscript an army. They would come under the heavy hand of a ruling power. But nonetheless, the people said, "Give us a king." So the tribal confederacy moved into a monarchy and Israel began to reflect the same kind of life as the nations around it, but with this exception. With the rise of the monarchy there arose in Israel a voice of the prophet. The thing that made Israel's history unique was the fact that there was a prophet to speak the Word of God into the social context, into the political arena. The prophet was not a predictor of the future. The prophet was a preacher who addressed the contemporary situation in the name of God. So Israel was spared that which was true of nations around where the king considered himself sovereign, accountable to no one. The prophet never failed to remind the king that he was king according to the grace of God, and that he was accountable to God. So the prophet arose in Israel to keep alive the Word of God in this new situation. The prophet was one who was not interested in power, who had no political agenda, but rather was consumed by the Spirit of God. © Grand Valley State University   �Speaking Truth to Power Richard A. Rhem Page 2   We speak of the inspiration of the prophets. The word itself, inspiration, means to be inspirited, to breathe in. We often speak of the Spirit of God, knowing that it is the same word in Hebrew as the "breath of God" or the "wind of God." The wind of God rippled the sails of the prophet. And often times the prophet would rather not have opened his mouth, but as Jeremiah said, "The word of God was like a fire in my bones." The prophet was consumed with the word that had to come to expression. It was a risky business and a costly business. Think of one who followed in the steps of those Old Testament prophets, Jesus himself, who died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. In our own century, think of a Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who dared to stand up against national socialism in that Nazi regime, and paid for his prophetic ministry with his life. The role of the prophets and martyrs goes on and on. The prophet that arose in Israel with the rise of monarchy was Israel's greatest gift to the world, shaping Israel's tradition more than any other institution and, I believe, shaping western culture, western civilization probably more than any other institution I can think of. The prophetic word that reminded all arrangements of power that they were provisional, that they were transitory, and that they were not ultimate, that ultimately every arrangement of power on the right or on the left was accountable to Almighty God, who alone is sovereign Lord in the arena of history. The prophet believed that God observed. The prophet believed that God cared. The prophet believed that God was concerned. The prophet believed that God had structured reality such that wrong action would bring dire consequences, and therefore, the prophet stood in the arena, the marketplace of his day and proclaimed a Word of God to whomever was in power. The example that I use this morning to show the rise of this office in the history of Israel was Amos. We could go almost anywhere in those prophetic books, but Amos was particularly classic in the clash between the prophet and the king. Amos began his ministry in the north, probably around 760 B.C.E.. Jeroboam II was on the throne of Israel. The great world empires were engaged with their own affairs and it gave breathing room to Israel. Israel, the northern tribes now, prospered, expanded, grew affluent, and the social structure began to rot. The words of Amos were directed at a social condition in Israel that did not reflect God's requirement of justice and righteousness and mercy in the land. Amos was a preacher. And, he had rather good technique. If you would read the book of Amos, you would find that Amos begins his prophetic preaching, "Thus says the Lord: 'For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four I will not revoke the punishment.' " And the crowd began to gather. Then he went on, "For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment." The people began to feel the energy flow. He moves to Tyre and to Edom, and to the Ammonites, and finally he moves to Moab. The people at this point were already to break out in a standing ovation. "Give it to 'em Amos. Give them the Word of the Lord." But then he gets close to home. He said, "For three © Grand Valley State University �Speaking Truth to Power Richard A. Rhem Page 3   transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment." Those of the north nodded their heads, "That's right. That southern kingdom. Give it to 'em, Amos." Then, he paused a dramatic pause and said, "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment." It is at that point that the congregation says to the preacher, "You just stopped preaching, and you started meddling." Now he was beginning to touch a raw nerve. But it was really always Israel that was the object of Amos's ministry. The Word of God that came to Amos was for Israel. All the rest was simply periphery. Now he was dealing with his target audience, and as he preached he said, "I hate, I despise your festivals. And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. The offerings of wellbeing, of your fatted animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an overflowing stream." He documented the sins of the society of his day. Finally word got to the royal court itself, for Amos didn't stop at the villages of the northern kingdom, he went right to Bethel, right there to the royal court with the temple as the accoutrement of its power and glory. Now every king has his own people on the dole, even religious flunkies. The king, Jeroboam II, had his core of priests who offered sacrifices for the prosperity of the policies of the northern kingdom. Amaziah was among them. He heard Amos preach and hurried back to the court and told the king, "This preaching has got to stop. He is saying that you will die by the sword, and that we will be exiled from our land returning no doubt with a mandate." He said to Amos, "Oh seer, go flee away to the land of Judah and earn your bread there. Prophesy there. But never again prophesy in Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary. It is the temple of the kingdom." Well, Amos answered, "I am no prophet, nor prophet’s son. I am a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees, but the Lord came to me and said, 'Go prophesy to my people Israel. Therefore, hear the Word of the Lord.' " Risky business that, daring to speak truth to power. But that was the function of the prophet, of the prophetic voice that arose along with the monarchy in order that the king of Israel and all of Israel's people would never fail to remember that God was still king, and that God still cared, and what happened to society was of great concern to God, because God cares about people, because God had set this people free, because God demands in the human community justice and righteousness and mercy. Wherever those are violated, there are dire consequences to follow. The prophet was a preacher. He often spoke of judgment because he was convinced that the world was so structured by the Creator of heaven and earth that wrong would be visited with wrath, not as an end in itself, but in order finally to effect the purposes of God. Amos was a prophet, and the prophets dared to speak truth to power. © Grand Valley State University �Speaking Truth to Power Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Last Sunday I was in Amsterdam on an absolutely beautiful Lord's Day, where I worshipped in the great Westerkerk. If there is a national church of The Netherlands, perhaps that's it, where the queen is crowned and so forth. The pastor is Nico TerLinde, who two years ago visited Christ Community on a Wednesday night and spoke to us. The church was filled for this powerful preacher, who has a great work going in that secular city of Amsterdam. When he was with us he told us the story of his early pastorate in north Holland, where they invited him to come into the public school to tell Bible stories to the children. Now, if you can believe, in Holland with all of its Christian heritage, there is now a generation that doesn't even know the Bible stories. So in the public school they were inviting a pastor in, not to evangelize, not to present the Gospel so to speak, but simply to tell the stories so that the stories stay alive, as works of literature. He decided to begin with the story of Abraham. He said, "And God said to Abraham," and a little nine year old raised his hand and he said, "Does God still say something?" TerLinde said, "That's a profound question." Well, what do you think? Does God still say something? Was prophecy an institution of ancient Israel, or is the office of the prophet still alive and well in our present experience? From the New York Times of October 29, I have the picture of one who looks every bit the part of a prophet — long beard, hand over forehead, eyes closed. Of course, it’s Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and the report is of his address to the Russian Parliament in October. Having visited so much of the Russian people, he stood before the Parliament to tell them the people are discouraged, they have lost hope, they have no faith in the government, and they don't believe the reforms are serious. The people are in despair. He pleaded with the leaders of Parliament to be genuine about the reforms. He said, "This is not a democracy, it’s an oligarchy, the rule of a few." There was a little applause, but mostly there was silence. There was some muttering, and visible exits by politicians going out for a smoke. He went on to make his plea and, although he is Russia's finest historian who has put his own life on the line and has dared speak truth to power at the jeopardy of his own life, nonetheless, when he closed with a call for speedier advance toward real democracy there was a smattering of applause, but no more. I would say that Solzhenitsyn is a prophet in our time. I would say that most often you'll look outside the institutional church for the prophetic voice. It is so often the case that the Word of God sounds from other arenas because the institutional church itself gets co-opted into the whole cultural process. No, prophecy was not simply a phenomenon of ancient Israel. It is a desperately needed office to be exercised in our day. I can understand the rise of prophecy in Israel. After all, they had been a theocracy. They had understood that God was their king. So the rise of the prophet in that tradition can be somewhat understandable. But what about our own nation? What about today? We have to remember that as a nation we were founded in a reaction. We were founded in a reaction to the European scene, the old medieval structures, the feudal structures, the often © Grand Valley State University �Speaking Truth to Power Richard A. Rhem Page 5   collusion of throne and altar. This nation's founding documents intentionally and deliberately separate church and state. That was a reaction. It was an experiment. And it has borne fruit. In the intention of our founding documents there is the preservation of the guarantee of the free exercise of religion. There is to be no domination of religion in the political arena where there are many interested parties who are all vying for their rights and their privileges, where the political situation demands accommodation and compromise and rational discussion. That has all been a positive experience in our national experience. But in the last few decades that whole separation of church and state has come under criticism. We don't really understand how to handle it today. There have been judicial decisions that have been detrimental, I believe, to the moral fabric of the country. And there have been decisions that have not only separated church and state, but have trivialized religious devotion. Stephen Carter, the brilliant black law professor at Yale University, a couple of years ago published a book The Culture of Disbelief, in which he pointed out case after case of judicial decisions that not only honored the separation of church and state, but were actually prejudicial to religious commitment. Well, you say, "Maybe that's why we have the anger in the body politic today." And, I suppose it is. Maybe you are thinking now that the Christian Coalition, the organization of the religious right has taken upon itself the mantle of a prophet. I suspect that that's what would be claimed. But I deny that that's the case. I do not deny the right of the religious right or any group to organize and to make its claims. I do not question the sincerity of these people, nor fail to understand the reason for their frustration. But I want to say to you that the technique that is being pursued by the religious right is wrong, and it is contrary to the Biblical, prophetic tradition. The prophet was disinterested. The prophet did not have a political agenda. The prophet was not seeking power. The prophet spoke truth to power. The prophet stood over against the power, whatever the organization may be. It doesn't matter whether it is right or left, whether it is socialist or free enterprise. It doesn't matter what the governmental structure may be. It doesn't matter what the economic system may be. The prophet stood for justice and righteousness and mercy and compassion in the midst of the market place, speaking to king or priest or prophet, never co-opted by the king, or the people in general. The prophet was a lonely voice, disinterested, seeking no power. My argument with the Christian Coalition, with the religious right, is that, in order to address the wrongs that it sees, it is seeking power, and if it should gain power it will lose the possibility of being prophetic. A society that does not have a prophetic voice that is disinterested and stands over against all arrangements of power is a society in peril. History is replete with examples of religion in power, and there is no more perilous place for power than in the religious establishment. A secular ruler may be careless, may be godless. But a religious ruler with a sense of a mandate from God is absolutist like no secular ruler would ever dare be. A society will be in © Grand Valley State University �Speaking Truth to Power Richard A. Rhem Page 6   trouble when there is a collusion of throne and altar. It will be in serious trouble when the altar becomes the throne. If you ever elect a prophet, you'll take away his power and he will lose his soul. The prophet stands over against every human arrangement — right or left and says, "Hear the Word of the Lord." No amount of religious observance will substitute for justice and righteousness and compassion. The prophet called people and king to love mercy and to do justly, and to walk humbly with God. Don't empower the prophet. But let the prophet continue to speak truth to power. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a1461b8863d2067aaf3ea50f75e9ea01.mp3 8a3fb9831572eb7e5fb127c230a7fec7 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 The First Testament Scripture Text Amos 7: 15-16 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-0-19941113 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-11-13 Title A name given to the resource Speaking Truth to Power 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 13, 1994 entitled "Speaking Truth to Power", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Amos 7: 15-16. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Hebrew Scriptures History of Israel Justice Prophetic Voice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c573637a79a6433566032f68c0ce01a3.pdf c511f53812a08221db1efdc04560d232 PDF Text Text Culture Wars: Battling For the Soul of the Nation Reformation Day Sunday Text: I Samuel 8:7; I Samuel 9:16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XXIII, October 30, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon ". . . The Lord said to Samuel, 'Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but have rejected me from being king over them.' " ". . . you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me." In the lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures you will notice a reference to the book of Judges. I am not going to read that, but that simply is a reference that says that after Joshua, Moses' successor, died, there arose a generation that knew not the Lord – a very serious portent of bad things to come. The book of Judges talks about that period of time between the settlement in Canaan of the children of Israel, and the first king, Saul. It was a period of a hundred or two hundred years. It was a time when leadership was charismatic. A leader would arise, would be filled with the Spirit of God, execute a task and then retire to his farm, or her farm. Deborah, Gideon and Samson, those great Bible stories are recorded in the book of Judges. The last and greatest judge was Samuel. Samuel was a priest, prophet, judge, and ruler. He led Israel for many years and then as he grew older the people were concerned because his sons were not following in his steps, and they wanted a king like all the other nations, so they asked Samuel for a king. Israel had been a loose confederacy of tribes, and they had gotten together to do certain things on specific occasions, but they were rather loosely connected as semi-independent tribes. But now, recognizing the threat from without, they request a king. The scripture lesson lists in the first book of Samuel a Saul source and a Samuel source. I do that so that you can see that there were two points of view that come together in this lesson. There are two traditions, and the author purposely let both traditions stand. The one tradition said that the people of Israel were vulnerable and in danger, and God said to Samuel, "Anoint Saul. Through this © Grand Valley State University   �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   first king I will deliver my people." The Samuel source, the conservative point of view, rejects that idea and resists the movement toward monarchy. I list these two sources so that you could feel the two of them that are interlaced together in these chapters. First, the ninth chapter of I Samuel, the fifteenth verse: "Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 'Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the affliction of my people, because their cry has come to me.'” Doesn't that remind you of Israel in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh? The cry comes to God, God raises up Moses, and the people are led to freedom. Now here they are in Canaan, but they are in a situation again of danger, and so God says to his leader, Samuel, "I hear their cry. Anoint this man. I will, through this man, deliver them." Samuel saw Saul. The Lord told him, "Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people." Now that happens. Then in the tenth chapter and the first verse, Samuel took a vial of oil, poured it on Saul's head and kissed him and said, "Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you shall save them from the hand of their enemies round about. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord had anointed you to be prince of his heritage." If you go on to read the eleventh chapter, Saul gains a great victory and everyone says, "Wow, what a man. He's our man." They are all ready to go. They are excited. The other point of view is expressed in the Samuel source, the eighth chapter and the fourth verse: "Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, 'Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.' But it displeases Samuel when they say, 'Give us a king to govern us.' And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, 'Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds, which they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, hearken to their voice; only, you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.' " Then follows a serious indictment of monarchy — In a word God says, "Tell them that once they get a king, the king will be on the take. Take their money. Take their sons and daughters. Take their animals. Take their property. They are in for trouble because governments tend eventually to become oppressive and coercive. Just let them know what they are in for." Then in the nineteenth verse of that chapter, the people refuse to listen to the voice of Samuel and they said, "No, but we'll have a king over us." © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I set for you this Biblical story because you have two traditions next to each other, and it was a hinge-point in Israel's experience. We know about the confederacy, the tribal union. It was very much like the early colonies in this country. Those thirteen colonies did not have a strong central government. They were a confederacy. They each yielded of their sovereignty some of their power and some of their rights in order that there might be a central government to do certain things for them that they couldn't do for themselves: national security, for example – trade, commerce, that kind of thing. To this day in this country that tension continues to exist in our nation. Do you remember Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers, and how he argued for a strong central government. There was a conflict at that time. In the nineteenth century this country went through the terrible tragedy of the Civil War and, though it was really over the question of slavery, what was being tested was this form of government, a federal government where they could instruct the states to give rights to people or could instruct all states to release their slaves. The governors of some southern states back in the 60s, in the Civil Rights days, argued for states rights over against the interpretation of the constitution from the federal government which said that it is wrong to segregate in schools and all of those so called Jim Crowe Laws that demeaned and dehumanized the black race. So we know about confederacy. It is a kind of government that has power on the periphery and less so in the center, as opposed to the federal form of government where there is power at the center that can dictate to the respective units of government. That was what was going on in Israel. They were a confederacy. A charismatic leader would arise on occasion to meet a specific crisis and then go back to the farm. And they had a central shrine where they worshiped together, and where they renewed their covenant. But God was their king, that was their understanding, and they had no strong central government or strong national leader, no dynasty, no imperial house. But as a kind of loose tribal confederacy they were vulnerable to the attacks of people on their borders, and once they got established people began to get some possessions. They built barns, and had fields and oxen and one thing and another. They said, "We don't want to be vulnerable to these attacks. Every six months or so somebody comes in and burns our fields. We need a strong leader. We need a strong government. We need security. We need secure boundaries." Sound familiar? So they came to Samuel who had been the greatest spiritual leader in Israel since Moses and they said to him, "Your sons aren't following in your steps. You are growing older. We need to move on to another form of government. We need a king." Well, if you read the one source, it sounds as though that was a movement that was not only approved by God, but initiated by God in response to the cry of the people and who said, "Through this man whom you are to anoint, I will deliver this people." © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   But if you read the Samuel source you see that God not only does not initiate it, God doesn't even approve of it, but sort of reconciles God's self to the inevitable, and says "Go ahead and do it, but warn them because they are in for trouble. Just wait until the king really establishes a royal house." That's the situation. That's the focus of the morning as we think about the culture wars, the battling for the soul of a nation. There were conservatives who said, "Foolish people, you want a king? Don't you remember that it was Moses who led us out of the oppression of Pharaoh out of the bondage of Egypt? Don't you realize that in establishing a royal house you will be bringing yourselves right back into a situation where there is oppression from on top? The conservatives had a point. They did remember. That was the best thing about the conservative mind. It remembers the values of the past. It has a memory of those things that were valuable and important and significant and that had a shaping determination of a people. But there were progressives as well, and they said, "To be sure. But on the other hand, look, we simply can't survive this way." The conservatives said, "Trust God," and the progressives said, "We do trust God, but look what's happening. We are being assaulted, invaded. The marauders come in. We are at a loss, we are victims. And, it's not going to change." So they went at it, these conservatives and progressives, and the Biblical story allows both of those voices to be heard. Now it is interesting that on Reformation Sunday we should have a scripture lesson that has two traditions that are at variance with each other because one of the models of the Reformation was sola scriptura— Scripture alone is our authority. But I would raise the question: If scripture alone is our authority, which of the traditions are you going to buy into? Where would you have been in this discussion? Are you a conservative or are you a progressive? Do you remember the values of the past and try to preserve them and perpetuate them, or are you one who believes in the movement of history, that new times demand new forms and new structures? Do you set things in concrete or do you remain fluid and flexible with the ongoing movement of history? The Reformation was a time that gave us this insight, which ought never to be forgotten–the Latin model I can't repeat but its translation is– the Church re-formed according to the Word of God and always being re-formed. In the sixteenth century there was a situation where the Church, not the nation Israel in the thirteenth century B.C.E., but now in the sixteenth century C.E. you have a church that had become a mammoth world power. There was a union of throne, and altar, and thus times during those centuries of Christendom, a medieval age when the Church was the most powerful human institution. It was not simply a religious institution. It was cultural, it transcended national boundaries, it was powerful, and it became decadent, just as decadent as any imperial house that has no checks on it. And the reformers said, "Something has © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   to change. The Church needs to be renewed. We need a reformation of the Church." Institutions don't change until something blows sky high. Martin Luther, of course, was the one who blew it. Martin Luther, brilliant, powerful, vulgar, a bull in a China shop, was excommunicated. He returned the favor and excommunicated the pope. And we were off and running. At that time, just as in the experience of Israel, it was a hinge-point in human history. It was Luther who said, "We must re-form and we must become the body of Christ in a total new structure. The other is the Babylon, the harlot that is in bondage, and God has turned away from it." A humanist scholar, a Dutchman named Erasmus was a faithful son of the Church. He and Luther communicated. Erasmus was a renaissance scholar. He was a part of the fifteenth-century revival of learning in Europe where they rediscovered the classical culture of Greece and of Rome and the old language of the Semitic peoples. And in that renewal and revival there was a whole blossoming of the human spirit in the fifteenth century, and it was a preparation for that breakthrough in the sixteenth century, the religious Reformation. Luther wrote to Erasmus, "Join me." Erasmus said, "No, I am going to stay." Luther said, "You can't stay. That Church is decadent and it is dead." Erasmus said, "You want to break it, rend the Body of Christ. For your renewal the price is too high. I will stay within the Church of the Body of Christ. We must not rend this institution that is, after all, in all of its corruption and decadence (which Erasmus readily admitted), nonetheless still the Church of the Living God." Luther left. Protestantism is the consequence. Erasmus stayed and in the following century the Roman Church reformed itself, as always happens in human culture. It's action and reaction. As the Reformation identified or created its identity over against Rome, the reforming Roman Church reformed itself over against the Reformation. Yet we have had this tragic split for all these years. Who was right, Luther or Erasmus? The conservatives who came to Samuel and said, "Don't do this." or the progressives who said to Samuel, "Give us a king." Who was right? Who was wrong? In human history, there's not right and wrong. There are wise choices, foolish choices. There are marvelous breakthroughs and dead ends. It's not a simple question of something being right or wrong. In the ambiguity of the human situation, in the ambiguity of the text of history at any particular time there are a lot of factors that have to be factored in. Erasmus was right. The price was too high. It was tragic. Luther was right. Nothing would happen without the break. Of course, some four or five hundred years later for us to continue to reiterate the sixteenth-century insights is to fall into the pattern of fundamentalism. For us to continue to talk about Reformed distinctions is to forget that we, with history, continue to move. We inaugurated a new President at Western Seminary, and you can hear him preach tonight. As Peter said, "He's a great guy, a good scholar, a good preacher." The Reformed and Christian Reformed Churches are getting together for that © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 6   service, and I think that's nice. But if you really want to celebrate Reformation Day today, then why don't we get together with the Roman Catholic Church and all the other churches in the community to recognize that the split back then was tragic, as well as necessary. Then, of course, if we really want to be prophetic, next year let's gather all the churches across all the barriers and also some people from Islam and our Jewish friends and let's have an inter-faith service of worship that recognizes that the future does not lie in the perpetuation of the divisions of the past but the overcoming of those decisions and the healing of relationships. What we need in this world is reconciliation. We live at a hinge-point in culture, which is as critical as that faced in Israel when they were trying to decide whether to have a king or stick with the old forms. We are at a hinge-point in history, which is as critical as the sixteenth century. We are in this nation today in the midst of a culture war. If you had the misfortune of listening in one evening to the Republican Convention a couple of years ago when Pat Buchanan said, "we are in a warfare." If you listen to the rhetoric of Randall Terry, the anti-abortion person, if you receive the propaganda of the religious right, you will find that what they want is the restoration of yesterday, failing to recognize that history is a stream that moves on. Now the conservatives back in Israel had remembered some important things that ought never to be forgotten — and that is the value of the conservative. But the progressives knew that new times demanded new forms — and that is the value of the progressive who recognizes that history is movement, and that yesterday's answers reiterated become fundamentalism today. Today's crises and dilemmas demand deliberation and decision today, in the light of the Biblical story, in the light of the Church tradition, with the exercise of human intellect, and in the evaluation of human experience. It not sola Scriptura. If we really want to be true to the Reformation and continue being Re-formed then we've got to stop throwing those models around, as though once that model is set, everything is set. That is not sola Scriptura. It is one witness. It is a valuable witness. This is our Book. This is our story, but the story has been lived out over centuries of time. We take that tradition seriously. Rome was right about that. Rome has always been right about that. This Book ought always to be a prophetic critique of tradition. But we weren't born in a vacuum. We take seriously the roots from which we come, and we use our heads. For God's sake, we use our heads, we think. To have an external authority that we simply clamp onto ourselves without being able to think, to liberate ourselves, is to deny we are made in the image of God, to think, for God's sake. Then, of course, human experience. You can't just speculate in the abstract. You make decisions in the concrete context of human experience. For example, the people who are pro-choice are not necessarily pro-abortion. They have other values they are looking at. What does it mean to be human? There are other human values that they weigh over against the value of the fetus. It's not easy folks. It's not simple, you see. To get up with all kinds of violent rhetoric and to © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 7   make out as though there is a simple easy course, and every God-fearing person would go that way is to deny the reality of the whole course of history in which we see it even in this Biblical example today, where there were Godly people who were trying to find out what it meant to be the people of God in the twelfth and thirteenth century B.C.E. Some said, "Don't you dare anoint a king." And others said, "You'd better anoint a king." And both of them had a text. And we have a text for both of them. Some of us will tend to be conservative. Some of us will tend to be progressive. But in the culture war of this nation today, what is so absolutely imperative is that we begin to talk to each other and to listen, that we be done with this sloganeering and just thinking that once you've said the cliché the argument is over. Look at the data, listen to each other, be in dialog, respect each other, esteem each other. Modernity was born in the French Revolution actually. The Renaissance detoured by the Reformation of the sixteenth century and came to full flower in the eighteenth century with the Enlightenment. The French Revolution, which overthrew the authoritarian divine rights, etc. had as its slogan, "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." If we remove the sexist language, "Liberty, Equality, and Community." That was the birth of the modern. Unfortunately, the modern came to birth in reaction. It had to come in reaction. These things always move in history by reaction. You bust something open, and consequently modernity has been colored with secularism and it has given birth to atheism, which is a recent phenomenon of modernity. But we are moved beyond that. We are in a postmodern age. We know that modernity lost mystery, transcendence. But now, before the face of God, in serious reverence and deep engagement, it is time for us to spearhead a new movement of reconciliation. Some of us recently, had an opportunity to stop in Coventry at the Cathedral. Perhaps you've read the story of how Churchill had gotten possession of the machine by which the Nazis coded their messages and he learned that Coventry was to be bombed a couple of days hence. It was a great industrial center with this great cathedral. Churchill had to wrestle – Do I simply give away the fact that I can break the code or do I simply let it happen and preserve the code and the ability to break the code? He did the latter. Coventry was terribly bombed. The Cathedral was in ruins. And they have allowed the ruins to stand. In the midst of the ruins they have built a magnificent new Cathedral. The morning after the bombing someone went in to take two of the old timbers from the roof that were smoldering and tied them together in the form of a cross. And with the char wrote on the stone ruin, "Father, forgive." If you would go there today, you would find there is still a charred cross. Behind it, etched in stone of the ruins, in gold now, "Father, forgive." There is a magnificent chapel off to the side. It is the Chapel of Reconciliation. Someone, the morning after the bombing, took the old square nails out of the beams and wired them together into a cross. The nailed cross, which perhaps you've seen, has become a symbol of reconciliation. © Grand Valley State University �Battling for the Soul of a Nation Richard A. Rhem Page 8   It is time for Christ Community to lead in a ministry of reconciliation. It will not try to reinvent yesterday, but believe in tomorrow when all God's children will kneel and embrace each other. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1f8ace430c49ad2039781db4b7e16e45.mp3 31f476273ee8681425944f84ce35a08d 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 XXIII Series The First Testament Scripture Text I Samuel 8:7, 9:16 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-0-19941030 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-10-30 Title A name given to the resource Culture Wars: Battling For the Soul of the Nation 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 October 30, 1994 entitled "Culture Wars: Battling For the Soul of the Nation", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Samuel 8:7, 9:16. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Covenant of Grace Hebrew Scriptures History of Israel Justice Liberation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c21b0345bd23e3125c7da3c36b7e0f12.pdf f8965007327f9d9a80e4c18e87641c3d PDF Text Text The Test of Trust Text: Exodus 16:18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XXI, October 23, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Those who gathered much had nothing over; and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed." Last week we saw Israel set free, a slave people delivered by the mighty hand of God, by the mighty hand of Moses and we noted that that founding story was the story that Israel looked back to when it understood its origins, recognizing that it was created by the grace of God. God with mighty hand moved into that situation of oppression and set his people free. Although that story reflected the ancient traditions, it was written down about six hundred years later when Israel was once again in a situation of exile, when they had lost their hope, when they were about to give up on God and all the promises of the covenant. So someone rehearsed the stories. Someone reminded them about how they were born out of slavery, out of oppression, out of an impossible situation. How God created them a people and set them free. But there are probably no people in all of history that told their own story with more candor than has Israel. A major image comes to mind when I think about Israel in the wilderness, the image of complainers, and the words of God over and again, "You are a stiff-necked people." There is one thing in Israel telling its story: it admitted that it was a stubborn and stiff-necked people. The Jewish Rabbi, David Hartman, said in April that God elected the most obstreperous, obstinate, stubborn and stiffnecked people in all the world, and God said "Now if I can make them human, then I'm really God." As you read the stories in the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers, you will find again and again and again that this people is unhappy, they complain, and they never learn to trust God. They are simply an impossible lot. Well, the situation in the sixteenth chapter of Exodus is a situation where they have no food. At least what they have they are not happy with. They had just seen God provide water out of the rock, but that didn't seem to get through to them, so they complained and God said, "I'll give them bread from heaven." © Grand Valley State University   �The Test of Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Now, it is really not proper to try to explain the miracles of the Bible in natural terms, but as a matter of fact, in the case of this manna or bread from heaven, we know that there was a phenomenon—some kind of plant lice that excretes a certain kind of gum or resin and it is edible and has sustained people in that area even to the present. As far as the quail are concerned, the migratory birds would often go across Sinai and sometimes, having come a long way, they would rest there. So that the miracle of the feeding does have a kind of natural explanation to it. But the point of the story is that God provided for this people in the wilderness. They were set free and set on a journey. The journey in the wilderness was forty years. But forty years in the Scriptures means an extended period of time. There was this extended period of time when they were between Egypt and the Promised Land. It's one of the great models or paradigms of the Scripture – being set free, journeying through the wilderness, journeying toward the Promised Land. In that wilderness experience, as Israel understood its own past, it saw that experience as a time in which it was tested and the thing that God was trying to create in the Israelite was trust. "Trust me. I will be with you. I will take care of you. Give up your anxiety. Simply trust me." So in the story the Lord says, "I will give them bread from heaven." And here are the instructions: They are to go out every morning and they are to gather enough for the day. We are told that they went out and some gathered a lot, as I probably would be inclined to do, knowing my appetite. Others gathered a little. But the text tells us that those that gathered a lot had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no lack. You see, that's the finger of God in the story. There might have always been that kind of stuff in the desert, but the lesson that Israel was to learn as it told this story, and the lesson that the people were to learn who were hearing the story hundreds of years later was that God is always on time with enough for the day. Then we are told that some of them didn't believe it. They gathered some extra and they put it in the freezer and in the morning, Behold, it was wormy. It didn't work. The Lord also said, "On the Sabbath Day there will be no manna. Don't go out to gather on the Sabbath. So gather a double amount the day before." Lo and behold, they did, and the next morning it was just fine. It didn't get wormy. Now there were a few who didn't believe that and they went out on the Sabbath anyway. But there was nothing there. That's the story, the story of bread from heaven, a story of how God provides for God's people, how God in the provision [of food] seeks to teach people to trust. It is a whole manner of life. Trusting is a way of life. Really, so much of the Biblical story is simply an invitation to people to live with trust, because God is good, and God cares, and God provides for those that trust in God. As you think about the story, obviously the first question that the story raises for us is — What is enough? The Financial Seminar which is being held in Track II in Perspectives raises a question. What is © Grand Valley State University �The Test of Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 3   enough? Our worldly possessions, our savings accounts, our investments – all of that which seems to be "worldly" is really at root a matter of deep spiritual concern. A question comes to us. What is enough? What is enough? What is enough in an age of affluence such as we live in? What is enough as we contemplate the engagement of our energies and our time? What is enough as we think about our future? We are reminded of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, who also with beautiful simplicity invited those who heard him to trust God. He pointed to the sparrow in the tree and the lily of the field. He used creation as a parable to say, "Look, there is someone who is looking after this old world, and after you and me. Live with trust. Be done with anxiety, all of that inquisitiveness, that compulsion to possess." In another place he told about the farmer who kept building bigger and bigger barns only to find that his soul was required of him when he had laid up all of his treasures. The question that comes out of this old tale of Israel's past, “What is enough?” John Wesley, who was a great English preacher and one who led the 18th century revival in England, raised the question as he observed the people that he was marshaling together into the whole renewal movement in England. He made this observation. He said, "Whenever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion.” “ Therefore,” said Wesley, "I do not see how it is possible in the nature of things for any revival of religion to continue long." Then he said this interesting thing, "For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase so will pride, anger and the love of this world and all of its branches. Is there no way to prevent this continuous decay of pure religion?" I was thinking about Wesley's statement: thinking about the area in which we live, thinking about Western Michigan, thinking about our own roots. "Good religion produces industry and frugality. And industry and frugality produce riches, and riches lead to the decay of religious commitment." Not necessarily, but all too often. Think about Western Michigan. I think about the industry and the frugality of our fathers and our mothers and our grandparents back two and three generations. I think about the considerable wealth of Western Michigan, which is the consequence of industry and frugality, which is a wonderful blessing of God. But the question that comes to us then is: What is enough? Another statement of John Wesley: (I like this statement.) he said, "Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can." That, it seems to me, would be an answer to his earlier observation that when we are blessed we see it as the blessing of God, that it is the consequence of God's good grace, and that then as good stewards we become the instruments of doing good, of being full of mercy and compassion, of binding up the wounds of the world. So, out of the story, let me leave you with a question this morning. “What is enough?” © Grand Valley State University �The Test of Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Then, obviously, this is there too. The Israelites were to gather enough for the day. Those of you who are familiar with the Twelve Steps know that the secret of long successful sobriety is to live one day at a time. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Take no thought for the morrow." Now that can become ridiculous, of course, if you think that it undercuts any kind of planning or projection of the future. But the point is — Where is our focus? And have we learned to live by trust in God, one day at a time? There were those who didn't believe it. They said, "You know, you'd better gather this manna while it's here. It might not be here tomorrow." And it turned moldy on them. How many of us have not been guilty of overreaching, grasping the prize only to have it turn to dust in our hands? The lesson of the story and what Israel was being taught by God was —today, that's enough. Take care of today. Worry about today, and tomorrow will take care of itself. Then, this too, which was all part of the same kind of lesson and was a Sabbath lesson. No gathering on the Sabbath. Sabbath was to be a break, a break in that continual day by day struggle for survival. The Sabbath principle was woven throughout the whole of Israel's history. It was a principle that was rooted in creation itself. The creed of creation in the first chapter of Genesis, which was written in the 5th or 6th century B.C.E., was the principle of God's creative activity and then rest. God rested from all God's work, surveyed it all and said, "It's good." And that was woven into the very fabric of the lives of God's people. In the time of Jesus, in the time of Paul, that Sabbath principle had become rather legalistic. They had all kinds of rules to hedge it in, such as the permissible Sabbath day’s journey when you could carry only so much. Well, Jesus had to protest against it. He said, “You know the Sabbath was made for humankind. Humankind was not made for the Sabbath.” I don’t know about you, but I grew up in that kind of Sabbath legalism. I always tell the story about the visiting preacher who was raised Scottish Presbyterian, which was about as formidable as being Dutch Reformed in terms of the legalism of the Sabbath. He told about singing the hymn “Day of All the Week the Best, Emblem of Eternal Rest,” and he thought to himself, “If heaven is like Sunday, I don’t think I want to go there.” We can make it miserable and the sense in which I grew up was “ugly Sundays.” But to react against that is to lose something that is so profoundly necessary for human well being, and that is to have some point in the week when we stop! When we stop and we rest! We give up that compulsive need to generate, to produce, to acquire. Just to stop! To stop, even when it’s stupid to stop, because we can conquer another milestone. The Sabbath principle cuts right into the core of that human compulsion, that obsession of producing. People who are workaholics like I am need to hear it over and over again. Stop! The Sabbath was not first of all for worship. The Sabbath was first of all simply to rest and to delight. I think that in my past the Sabbath principle was violated by the Church itself, where it required Sabbath worship morning and evening and all parts in between. What God wants people to do is to © Grand Valley State University �The Test of Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 5   take time to smell the roses, take time to be human. Take time to let the earth refresh itself and to rest the animals and, above all, to find a quiet place for our souls. The test is trust. Do I believe in God? Do I believe in the goodness of creation? Do I trust that the good God and the good creation will be supportive of my human existence? And will I take time to recognize that every good and perfect gift comes from God, and learn simply to live with trust? I think that that is the spiritual dimension of our Christian giving. That’s the real point of the issue when we determine what of that which God has given us we will give in turn to enhance and enable the work of God in the world. Trust. To trust God is to be relieved of a terrible anxiety, to be freed from an awful drivenness, to be able to delight and to enjoy and to rest in the Lord. Those that gathered much didn’t have any over, and those that gathered little had no lack: a vision for a world where everyone has enough, a goal to work at for the people of God, who trust God, day by day. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/50771c556f2dddcce300baceff2fdfea.mp3 d5c4de6aa96ec1e2e2eb91d53b0ffd0b 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 Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII Series The First Testament Scripture Text Exodus 16:18 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-0-19941023 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-10-23 Title A name given to the resource The Test of Trust 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 October 23, 1994 entitled "The Test of Trust", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 16:18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Hebrew Scriptures History of Israel Pluralism Reconciliation Reformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5bddc8d9f6c933b22bf44dde4a1c43c8.pdf c98b5555fd3196daf11d7aa500f8d1cb PDF Text Text A Founding Story: A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free History of Israel: Its Liberation and Birth as a People Text: Exodus 1:8; Exodus 3: 2, 6-7, 14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XXI, October 16, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." Exodus 1:8 "There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed." Exodus 3:2 "l am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob... I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry."  Exodus 3:6-­‐7   "God said to Moses, ‘I will be there’.. ( ‘I Am who I am.' or 'I will be what I will be.')  "  Exodus 3:14 Now imagine, if you will—six hundred years later or so—this same people, this community of faith now down some generations, are once again in a situation of captivity. The people of Judah are in exile in Babylon, and their faith is wavering. They are ready to give up. All of these great promises: the covenant of grace, God's special choice of this people, God who was supposedly God alone, Creator of the heavens and the earth. Where was God? Babylon seemed to hold sway. As their hope was fading and their faith was flickering someone said, "Let me tell you a story." He told them a story that we've just read, a story of where this people, even six hundred years before, had been in a situation more oppressive and more hopeless than anything that the present exiles in Babylon had known. Someone said, "That's a great story." And someone else said, "You ought to write that story down." And a third person said, "Xerox it off and spread it around. That's a good story." They started to believe again. Maybe what they were experiencing in their present circumstance was not a dead end. Maybe that was not all there was. Maybe this God really was God after all, a God who could create newness, who could do the unexpected. Maybe this was God who would surprise by grace, as God had to their fathers and their mothers centuries ago. The prophet picked it up and he began to speak in the name of God. Second Isaiah, Isaiah 43:14—listen to the images. © Grand Valley State University   �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 2   "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'For I will send to Babylon and break down all the bars, and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentations. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.' Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 'Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert...'" Six hundred years later and the old founding story of liberation and the birth of the Israeli people becomes a catalyst for this same people to begin to believe again, to begin to hope again, to begin to wait on the Lord again, and to expect the salvation that comes from God. The story is familiar. Israel is terribly oppressed. Moses, who had been raised in all of the pomp and circumstance of Egypt, with all of that culture and civilization, blew it badly through a temper that flared up when he killed an Egyptian. Now he's out there tending flocks. In Wanderings, the Jewish novelist Chaim Potok tries to get inside the skin of Moses to figure out what must have been going on in this man as he tended sheep and sensed something within, how he was confronted with a bush that burned and was not consumed, and who heard a voice, within perhaps, but as thunderous as any thunder, saying to him, "Things are not right in Egypt. Go. Set my people free.” He goes, and it is a contest of wills. But the judgments of God, we call them the plagues, counter all of the "no's" of Pharaoh, until finally he says, "Take them out." And Moses leads them to freedom, through the Red Sea, into the desert, gathering at Sinai to be formed as a people specially created by the Eternal God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the God of their fathers and mothers: Abraham & Sarah, Jacob & Rachel, Isaac & Rebekka and Joseph. Now they are on their way to a new beginning and a promised land. They celebrate this story as their founding story, the story of a God who sets people free, who uses the likes of a Moses to lead a people into God's intention for their humanization, for the full realization of all for which God had created them. Wonderful, wonderful story, and in that story we can see Israel's faith. Israel's tradition is the tradition out of which the Christian Church has come, so the founding story is our story too. This God of deliverance, this God of liberation— this is our God. The things that Israel believed are the things that have shaped the whole western tradition as well, the Jewish Christian tradition. There are so many things one could say, but let me mention just a few. The first thing I would say is that God in this story comes through as a God who is on the side of human liberation. God is a God who wants human freedom. God is a God, on the other side of the coin, who is against all slavery or oppression, or © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 3   totalitarianism. God is against the tyrants and the dictators and those who will use people and abuse people for their own ends. God is against every movement that used people as a means to an end, and not an end in themselves. God is for people. God is for the humanness of people. God is for the freedom and the liberty and the full blossoming of the human person and human community. That's in the story, I believe. Israel believed that. Its long tradition, even to the present, holds that to be true. And, therefore, the God of Israel, the biblical God, the God whom we worship, is a God who is engaged in the human story, a God who is involved in human history. Do you believed that? Do you believe that? You say, "Oh, sure, doesn't everybody?" Yes, everybody does until they think about it. When you think about it, where is the puzzle put together, that is, the fiats that come out of the power centers of the world, the governments of the world, the Bill Clintons, the Helmut Kohls, the Saddam Husseins, the machinations of people? Is that all there is? Is it just maybe economic ties? Is it just political scheming and structuring? Is God involved in it? Well, sometimes it would hardly seem so. Who could see this invisible hand? Yet, what is the alternative? Is no one transcending all these human machinations? Then are we just pawns on the sea of fate, of political decision and economic trends? Biblical faith says God is engaged. God hears the cry of the suffering people. God says, "I remember my covenant." God moves, through human agency to be sure, but God is engaged. God is involved. There is a spiritual power or force that is at work in the political decisions and the human scheming on the historical plane. So says biblical faith. A huge affirmation of faith is needed, because you can't get your finger on it, and just the moment you say, "There," something will reverse it. But it is true that the Jews went home from exile in Babylon believing as they believed, triggered by this Exodus story, that all was not over, that the present circumstance was not a dead end, that God could create some newness, some window for them. Some years ago, this story was a powerful story being preached in South Africa. The white South African government did not fall, apartheid was not dismantled because they did not have enough police power and enough guns. Apartheid was immoral. It was contrary to the God, the Creator, who was for human liberty and dignity, and when something is essentially immoral it will ultimately be politically disastrous. The Berlin Wall fell without a shot. The most powerful forces to move it were the candles and the prayers in Leipzig. We are people who don't claim to know how or where or when, and yet we believe that God is for justice and for righteousness, and for good, and for compassion and for mercy— that there is something operative beyond what is apparent to the human eye and the human perception, something more. There is a surplus of meaning that is on the side of human liberation. That's in this story that is effected through guys like Moses, who has a short fuse and kills a man and flees justice, a flawed man, and © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 4   yet a great leader. Really it's because that's all God has to work with—folks like you and me with our clay feet hanging out. A man from the Nobel committee in Norway resigned on Friday when Arafat was given the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Peres and Rabin. He said that to give the peace prize to Arafat, so tainted with blood, terrorism and violence, is to prostitute that prize. At first I thought, "Good for you. You're right." Members of the right-wing conservative party in Israel said Peres and Rabin should not accept the prize because it would desecrate all the lives of those who had died in the violence. Where were they in 1978 when Menachem Begin got the prize – one of the greatest terrorists of them all? Then I got to thinking, "No, Mr. Christiansen, I don't think you should resign because they are not evaluating the moral character of those people; they are saying those people somehow in the ebb and flow of history have been at a vortex of action that has gotten some breakthrough and moved onward toward peace and justice." Arafat is no lily. Neither was Moses. It's all God has got to work with. So God uses what's there. The biblical God gets hands dirty and messed up with the ambiguity of the human situation. And that's the fourth thing I would say: the movement towards liberation is ambiguous and it is messy. There are not white hats and black hats. There are not good guys and bad guys. There are not lily-whites and black evil. When David Hartman was in Muskegon he told this founding story, and he said, "You can tell it two ways. You can say 'Wow, what a story! Israel set free, isn't it wonderful?'" Then he told about some of the Rabbis way back in history who said, "God in heaven said, 'Why are you singing and rejoicing when the work of my hands, the Egyptians, are drowning in the sea?'" The Hebrew tradition does it better than we have done it. They have a sense of the ambiguity of the historical, human situation. Recently I was at Normandy. It was very moving to be there and to review the countless crosses at Omaha Beach. I thought about the sacrifice of human life and of the hearts of parents that were crushed. But there were German cemeteries there too. Nothing is black and white in history. The movement forward is a messy movement. It is full of ambiguity. And every victory has the downside of tragedy. That's really the way it is, and maybe it is at that point that I read the story different than some of my colleagues and other advocates of the “U.S.A. No. 1” position. I name some people just so you know what I am talking about in the political arena: the Oliver North types, the flag waving, the identification of patriotism with righteousness and a strong America-and all that, or the television ministries of Pat Robertson, even James Kennedy, with their strong American defense. It is a reading of the story as though the United States of America can be identified with the children of Israel, with the cause of righteousness and justice in the world, and the movement of God toward peace and justice. You see, if you © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 5   read this honestly, we at this point are the greatest power in the world and uncontested. We are not Israel looking for freedom. We are the House of Pharaoh. If we would read this Word of God and let it address us, it must address us as those who are in power, not those who are seeking freedom. There's nothing wrong with being in power. The only question is what will we do with our power? And if we would hear the word of God, if we would hear this founding story, then the Church of Jesus Christ must say to those in power who lead us that what God is concerned about in the world is not U.S. national security or U.S. GNP, or U.S. self-interest, or the oil or whatever. What God is concerned about is humanity, humanness, liberty, the dignity of the individual, the building of community, a compassionate world. We cannot so easily identify with the white hats of scripture. Our Puritan forbearers came over here and saw this as the new Canaan. They came over here and saw this as a theocracy, the kingdom of God. And I think with all honesty they believed that. There was a time when we had to take our guns and our rifles and stand up for liberty in these states. There was a time when this nation was in that position. We could identify perhaps then with the story on that side. But if I would be true to the Word of God, I would have to say to you that the founding story of Israel confronts us with a question: Now that you have the power, what will you do in the world? And that ought to make us very nervous. Three weeks away from an election, that would be a great question to raise to those running for office. How do you get elected by serving the self-interest of the people? What is popular? Patriotic rallies and flag waving, that's O.K. I love the nation. I am proud of the nation. As I said, I stood on Normandy Beach and I experienced vicariously, I think, the best of this nation. But never let the Church of Jesus Christ be co-opted by a political agenda as was the German Church under Hitler, as is Islam under Saddam Hussein. Whenever the Church baptizes the government's policy, the government will in time be in trouble, because what is morally indefensible is ultimately politically disastrous, because God is God, by God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e17b098df018886dab618152c782ad39.mp3 85f9262641f1b22ad8ecbc45876cb7fe 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 XXI Series The First Testament Scripture Text Exodus 1:8, 3:2, 6-7, 14 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-0-19941016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-10-16 Title A name given to the resource A Founding Story - A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free 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 October 16, 1994 entitled "A Founding Story - A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 1:8, 3:2, 6-7, 14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Freedom Hebrew Scriptures Spiritual Journey History of Israel Sabbath Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a93567604cf8180e0b68fe3c2695ed1e.mp3 ac037abc0ad3a83ad6db7409d9e354c2 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 XIX Series The First Testament Scripture Text Genesis 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-0-19941002 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-10-02 Title A name given to the resource Why No Ishmael? - Election: Exclusive or Inclusive? 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 October 2, 1994 entitled "Why No Ishmael? - Election: Exclusive or Inclusive?", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XIX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 17:18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Covenant History of Israel Inclusive Pluralism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/16105fcfb52711c7b1298a2fa6e50841.pdf 48a46a1b7fe4ed1bf576a89d7fac57c6 PDF Text Text Creation: God’s Risky Decision – Dream or Nightmare? The Genesis Story of the People of Israel Text: Genesis 9:8-11 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XVIII, September 25, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Then God said to Noah... I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you... and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." Genesis 9:8-11 The Bible is a forbidding book. In order to get some handle on it, let's try for a few Sunday mornings to look at large chunks, with broad strokes, in order to see how those large chunks fit into a whole to tell "The One Story of the Bible." Our beginning is with the first eleven chapters of Genesis. But those first eleven chapters, while they speak of the beginning of all things, are not really the beginning of the biblical story. To go to the beginning of the biblical story, we would have to go to the book of Exodus, to the birth of the people Israel. Here we find Moses leading the Israelites out of the slavery and bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land. The Exodus, the movement from Egypt and slavery to the land flowing with milk and honey, that was the founding story of this people Israel. The Creation story is the story of this people. This people Israel, like every people, told stories. They told stories in order to understand themselves, who they were, and to communicate that understanding to the rising generations. They told stories of beginnings, like every people. They told stories of the ancient past. They told stories in order to understand themselves in the broad scheme of things. They told these stories in order to understand how they related to the whole cosmic reality and the whole human history, how they as a people related to all other peoples. They told stories in order to explain why life was like it was, and how to respond to it, and from what perspective to interpret it. They told stories. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are the stories that this people Israel told in order to explain what they believed—what they believed to be true about the world, about history, and about themselves, and about God. This people Israel told their stories in order to give expression to their faith, for they were first of all a people of faith. © Grand Valley State University   �Creation: God’s Risky Decision – Dream or Nightmare? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Perhaps you will then say to me, "Well, then these stories in the first eleven chapters of Genesis are human creations? Are they simply stories that people told?" And I would say, "Yes .. . and No ..." Yes they are human creations, they are stories that this community told, that expressed their faith. But whence did those stories arise? They arose out of the experience this people had with the One who was transcendent, the One who was beyond them, the One whom they understood to be the source of all life—Creator of all. Their stories arose out of their encounter with the Living God. So there's a sense in which you could say yes, these biblical stories are human creations, but they are more than that; they speak of human experience of being encountered by God. Out of that encounter they gave witness to the things that they believed about the God who encountered them. As the centuries went by and the nation of Israel developed, the stories they told in an oral tradition eventually became written down and gathered together. So, we have today the Hebrew Scriptures or the First Testament. (Rather than the Old Testament. To say the Old Testament it sounds as though the New Testament superseded the Old, as though Israel has been surpassed. I think that that is insensitive and I don't really believe that to be the case. I think more and more we come to see that we, with Israel, worship this one God who creates all and is full of grace.) So, the Hebrew Scriptures or the First Testament will be our primary focus for a few weeks. And that Hebrew scripture begins not with the beginning of the Hebrew people—that's told us in the book of Exodus – but what they believed about the Source of all things. They said there is, because God said, "Let there be." That is the creation story told poetically by James Weldon Johnson, expressed marvelously by Franz Josef Heyden, recorded here by the First Testament writer in the first chapter as a creed of creation. This story is recorded in the midst of Israel's exile and despair, as an affirmation of faith, that a Creator created all things. Why is there anything, rather than nothing? They said, there is something rather than nothing, because God said, "Let there be." The unraveling of that creation story is simply the explication of the fundamental decision of faith that what is—is, not by accident or chance or an eternal cycle of things, but is the consequence of the Living God who is the creative source of all, who decided in a risky decision to bring into being all that is. That's what they believed. Then they went on to say, "But how—now that we have located ourselves in this cosmic scheme of things, the consequence of God's creative word—how should be feel about the world and the created order?" They went on in their storytelling to reiterate that statement of God, "It is good," a positive affirmation, a positive affirmation of human life. They said, "Who are we and how are we related?" The storyteller said, "We are related to God, for we are created in the divine image, and with profound insight." This story also helped them to see that the human person, created in the divine image, self reflective, created with freedom and responsibility, was also shaped © Grand Valley State University �Creation: God’s Risky Decision – Dream or Nightmare? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   out of the mud of the earth—dust, humus. After the rain the worms buckle up the soil—that's humus, the excretion of the worm. The humus is the stuff that God shaped to make the human person. Humus. Its root is in the word humility; the root of humility is the root of humor. In God's good humor, God making a joke, created a being out of humus that had a spirit that could soar with God's own so the human person beckoned upward, pulled downward, lives in this constant tension. The Israelite tradition said, see, that's why we are like we are. But someone else said, "But why? This God is good, and if this God created humankind in God's own image, why all the disease and all the dis-ease? Why all the trouble, the anguish and the pain? Why does it sometimes seem that this creation is not a dream, but a nightmare?" The answer was: Not God's fault. The Creator called the creature to live in freedom within limits, in harmony with creation, and the Creator. But the risky part of it was that the creature had the potential to say, "No," and with arrogant pride to usurp the place of the creator, to seek human autonomy. All of that is in those primitive stories. The writer was trying to give expression to the conviction of Israel that creation is good because God is good, and God called it forth. The human person is good because it is shaped after the image of God, yet rooted in the earth, full of conflict, set always before choice, called always to choose life, to choose the way of wisdom. But again and again and again, say the storytellers, these persons choose wrongly, bringing on alienation, disharmony, grief, death. The third chapter of Genesis, following on the story in the Garden of Eden, tells us about Adam and Eve and the trees and the temptation to eat from the tree. And the choice to do what God had said they should not do, to eat from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But that's not a story that happened at 6:00 a.m. on the first day of creation, because these are not historical narratives as though day one is in chapter one, and day two is in chapter three, then day four, or month six, or whatever. No, these are a series of little stories, a series of portraits, of snapshots. So, in chapters two and three we have a human couple, created for a garden of paradise, an Eden of delight, who usurped their limits of the freedom and brought grief upon them. Then, it is not as though from that point on there is no more human possibility to choose rightly. In the fourth chapter there are two brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain gets an angry eye over against his brother and he becomes jealous of his brother. He has hatred growing in his heart, and he rises up and he kills his brother. But the word of the Lord comes to him and says you did that because your mother and father sinned, therefore, you are a sinner and are totally depraved; you can't help yourself. Sin crouches at your door, but you can master it, but you didn't. If you want to call that the "fall" in Genesis 3, then you have a second "fall" in Genesis 4. There the writer tells us that human civilization and culture developed, and with the developing culture of the civilization there was an increase in wickedness on the earth until God shook his head and he said, "I wish I wouldn't © Grand Valley State University �Creation: God’s Risky Decision – Dream or Nightmare? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   have done it. I took a risk. I wish I wouldn't have taken a risk." The storyteller uses anthropomorphic words– so child like, so profound—revealing the anguish of a God who is engaged and involved, who says, "I will wipe it out." Ah, but we're told, there's Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. He was a righteous man. God snatched Noah and his family out of the abyss of the flood, and when the floodwaters passed away God said, "You know, I'm never going to do that again. I am going to make a covenant pledge with the created order and every living being and humankind. I'll never destroy it again and I am going to put a rainbow in the sky to be reminded every time I see it that I am pledged to stick with this risky experiment all the way to the end. I'll never let it go." Such grace! Then you have Noah's sons and their trouble, and the final story in these eleven chapters is the story of the Tower of Babel where they begin to build this tower toward heaven. Again with such profound wisdom and insight the storyteller is telling us that it is the human project to usurp the place of God, to build the secular city, to organize all of life without regard to the Creator, to break the limits. So we have the dispersion of the people due to the confusing of their tongues. Because, when communication breaks down, community is impossible and the world becomes hell. That's how this people Israel related themselves to the total cosmic scheme of things, to the whole flow of human history, to God whom they affirmed to be the source of all life, and how they understood the reason there was so much pain and trouble in the world. Not blaming God, and never letting themselves off the hook as though, "We're just human, and we are fallen; therefore, marred forever and it can't ever be any different." Always calling themselves back to choose life, to live obediently – that was their understanding and their goal in the telling of these stories. Those eleven chapters are foundational for the rest of the story because, you see, what the writer did was say "We, as this peculiar people of Israel, are who we are, chosen by God because in the beginning—Adam and Even, Cain and Abel, the people of Noah's generation, the Tower of Babel—again and again and again human failure, human cussedness, human obstreperousness was the choice." But God says, "I can't let it go. I'll never abandon my people, so I am going to have to do something." What follows is the story of Abraham. Does the writer just happens to tell us that Abraham's wife, Sarah, was a woman with a barren womb? I don't think that the writer slipped that in order that there might be a wonderful trivia question some generations later. The writer was using a metaphor to tell us that Israel would be born as a new creation of God, out of a barren womb which only God could do in order to be a people to bring light and truth to the nations on behalf of the God who was the Creator of all. Out of the womb of Sarah that was barren, and at her age as wrinkled as a dried prune, God would bring a people as numerous as the stars of the heaven and the sands of the sea. But I am anticipating next week—so for now let me say just two things. These marvelous stories answer the fundamental question: All that is, is because God said, "Let there be." © Grand Valley State University �Creation: God’s Risky Decision – Dream or Nightmare? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I received a magazine at my Wednesday night class, brought by one of my friends. The Scientific American, a special issue, October 1994 celebrating 150 years of continuous publication. The theme, "Life in the Universe," has marvelous articles about the latest bits of knowledge we have about the earth, the evolutionary process, the human person, the extra-terrestrial investigations, the environment, all of that. Marvelous! Now I want to say there is nothing in this [magazine] that is in conflict with this [Bible]. The tragic history of the conflict between religion and science has done irreparable damage to the cause of Christ and the mission of God for the world. This [magazine] talks about how, when, by what means— maybe this, maybe that. It speaks of baffling questions yet unsolved, yet a continual probing, searching, reflecting. This [Bible] says nothing about what this [magazine] says, except that there would not be this [Bible] if there were not One who said, "In the beginning, let there be." It states that in the beginning, God created. It is the affirmation of faith, the absolute affirmation of faith, and it is the primary goal of this book to say only that. This is a book of faith by a people who believed that all that is is because God said, "Let there be. That's all! And that is everything! With such a faith we can relax, say, go to it ,all you scientists. Unravel the mysteries, tell us the exciting news that brings ever more awe to the human mind as secrets are revealed." Tuesday and Wednesday this week at Hope College there is a Critical Issues Seminar on Human Genetic Engineering. The chief of the whole project from Washington, DC will be there Tuesday night. Medical questions, ethical decisions, all of those things need to be figured out. All this book [Bible] says is that the reason that you seek the answers is because you seek the God who is the ultimate source. Now, use your minds, your best judgment. Find the path of wisdom. Choose life." And there is free rein to uncover the secrets of this marvelous universe, whose complexity is but a witness to the wonder of the Creator. One further word, those opening chapters are eloquent in their statement about human wrong headedness, wrong heartedness, wrong choices, pride, arrogance. Are you a cussed people? Oh my, are you ... and I with you. The Hebrew Scriptures point to the hopelessness of the human person, but never in a hopeless kind of way. There is no "fall" that marks generations from thereon. That's an imposition on the stories. That's a doctrinal system that has done terrible disservice to the human person, robbed the human person of dignity, stripped the human person of self esteem, put the human person under a load of shame and guilt. And it doesn't come from these scriptures. It is imposed upon it. Do we make wrong choices? Yes, we do. Have we in the past? Yes. Will we in the future? Yes, we will. But God says, "I won't give up, and when you fall down I will pick you up and put you back on the road." These chapters, we understand them in the Hebrew tradition, are terribly honest about the human condition. We are hopeless, but not without hope because God is full of grace. Well, a risky decision like that might seem a nightmare. But God will never abandon the dream. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eb8d54aedb5ea401aac429378a88796c.mp3 d1ea75fb892dee4c74c4518c1d8a7e10 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 XVIII Series The First Testament Scripture Text Genesis 9:8-11 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-0-19940925 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-09-25 Title A name given to the resource Creation: God's Risky Decision - Dream or Nightmare? 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 September 25, 1994 entitled "Creation: God's Risky Decision - Dream or Nightmare?", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XVIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 9:8-11. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Covenant Creator Faith Forgiveness History of Israel https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d330977562ac845c064c88573ff2823e.mp3 c1eaca2b59841e8e4d0f853274823c5f 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 Sunday Scripture Text Numbers 11:19, John 14:12, 18, Acts 2:4 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-0-19930530 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-30 Title A name given to the resource Spirit Embodied Humanly 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 30, 1993 entitled "Spirit Embodied Humanly", on the occasion of Pentecost Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Numbers 11:19, John 14:12, 18, Acts 2:4. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives History of Israel Non-exclusive Pentecost Universal Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/be14a89ff0e966f80b8ed6225aac9c84.mp3 e11aab272432f7f4fcc4b620fe63382f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bb81980486f88dee6b44daf5652109b1.pdf 9d949e6e3ee157ce1df6f45c30bdb66c PDF Text Text Culture Wars – Does God Take Sides? From the series: Heroes in Clay: Samuel Text: I Samuel 8:19-20; Matthew 5:45 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 15, 1992 Transcription of the spoken sermon … we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations… I Samuel 8:19-20 … God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on righteous and on the unrighteous. Matthew 5:45 Last evening on the evening news there was a brief bit of the heavyweight championship fight of the night before and of Riddick Bowe who delivered the telling blow to Vander Holyfield. “I won,” said Bowe, “because God was on my side.” Now that’s really dumb! One guy beats up another, makes him bloody and says, “God’s on my side.” But it’s really only the extreme of what we all do at one time or another. We get in a conflict or a debate, or a discussion or we get into something that deeply divides and we do our best to make sure that God is on our side. We make the claim and Samuel made that claim too. Samuel believed that God was on his side - or maybe, in all fairness to Samuel, I should say that Samuel believed that he was on God’s side. Samuel was one of the great leaders of ancient Israel – a good man, a man of integrity and of spiritual depth. He had been one of the judges of Israel at the end of that historical period we call the time of the Judges. Israel was a tribal confederacy at the time following the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. It was that period of time in which Israel lived as a kind of loosely confederated group of tribes. They would, when a crisis arose, rise up together for a common defense. They believed that God would, at a decisive moment, raise up a charismatic leader who could rally the tribes together. Then, when the crisis had passed and the battle won, they would go back and do their farming again in their respective tribal territories. They were a tribal confederacy. We can understand that because we had thirteen colonies at one time or thirteen states that were in a confederacy. A confederacy is a kind of government where the independent units maintain a certain amount of autonomy, but they feel the need for a certain amount of centralizing and organizing power for such things as common defense, etc. If you remember your ninth grade civics class, at least a © Grand Valley State University   �Culture Wars –Does God Take Sides? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   hundred years ago it was called the United States Civics class, you learned there about how the Confederacy moved into a strong central government. Wasn’t it Alexander Hamilton who wrote the “Federalist Papers” and argued the case for the strong centralization of power? Well, that’s exactly what was going on in Israel at the time. Samuel had been an excellent judge and a great spiritual leader. As long as you have a towering figure, the old forms and structures survive somehow because such a figure as a Samuel commands such trust and respect. But we are told in the eighth chapter of I Samuel that Samuel is old and his sons are not following in his footsteps, and so the elders of Israel, (kind of the leading citizens, I suppose) come to Samuel. I hope they were a little more sensitive than the text says. It says, “You’re old.” It can be a difficult thing, you know, growing old. You don’t need somebody to remind you! Somebody comes up to Samuel and says, “You’re old. And your sons aren’t doing well. Give us a king.” Samuel was displeased. These people were about to fall into the same trap from which they had so long ago escaped in Egypt. The Hebrews had vowed they needed no king but God. So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said, “Yes, I understand you are displeased, but recognize they are not rejecting you. They are rejecting me and I am used to it. This has been going on since the very day I brought them out of Egypt. Listen to the people. Give them what they want.” However, Samuel warned them what they were in for. Then we come to the ninth chapter and it is as though we are reading a totally different account, because now we have Saul in the picture. God speaks to Samuel and he says, “Tomorrow there is a young man who is going to come. His name is Saul. I have appointed him to be a king and I want you to anoint him, etc.” And very interestingly, in the ninth chapter and the sixteenth verse, the Lord says, “Anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hands of the Philistines, for I have seen the affliction of my people because their outcry has come to me.” Now here in the ninth chapter you have another source. You have another perspective. You’ve got another understanding of things. Here, very much parallel to Moses, you have God coming to Samuel and saying, “This man is going to be my answer to meet the affliction and suffering of my people Israel. Anoint him. Appoint him. He will be my instrument in response to the cry of my people.” God said, “The cry of my people has risen to me and I am going to do something for them.” The words are very similar to the ones spoken to Moses at the burning bush. In the ninth chapter, after that rather discouraging beginning about the initiative for a king, it seems as though God is on the bandwagon now and it is God who is doing this thing. God is saying, “I am going to move this tribal confederacy into monarchy in order to meet the needs of the immediate situation.” Well, that whole section meanders between these two points of view. You have, we’ll call it, the Samuel source, the source that speaks for the old tradition, the covenantal community. And you have the Saul source, which reflects the view of those who want to move into something new, into some new social organization in order to meet the exigencies of the time. Both sides are sure © Grand Valley State University �Culture Wars –Does God Take Sides? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   that God is on their side. Neither side is pure. None of us is ever pure. No faith conviction of ours is without some measure of vested interest. You can count on that. Now I think Samuel was genuinely upset about the undercutting of that ancient covenant community where a people was gathered into a community, not through political alignment or economic philosophy or ethnic purity, but out of a common trust in God. But I also think he was hurt. He felt rejected. And those who were seeing where Israel had to go had a concern for the well being of Israel, but I think probably there were also the ones who had been able to accrue some considerable bank accounts here and there and they really wanted some kind of security system. They wanted to take the bull by the horns and make sure that the accumulated wealth and positions they had acquired would somehow or other be secure. They wanted to be like other nations where a king could help maintain an army and a measure of stability. So there is always that mixture. What’s going on here? Well, I suppose it’s a culture war. I don’t know who introduced the phrase “culture war,” but I do know that it came into prominence in this past political campaign. Pat Buchanan at the Republican Convention spoke about being at war for the soul of this nation. And out of the campaign has come an accentuation of that polarization of our society. If we look back to Israel we can see that polarization and culture divide wasn’t devised in the 1990s; it’s not a 20th-century phenomena. It has been going on forever. Then, there were two visions of what Israel was to be. There were two visions of what the identity and the mission and the nature of the community ought to be. They were at odds. They were at cultural war with each other. It’s really interesting that in the biblical account you don’t have one setup as the right way and the other way as the wrong way, but you have a weaving together of these two positions. Now in the old way that we used to read the Bible, and the old way I used to preach the Bible, frankly, I would have had to iron out those two undissolvable knots of material. I would have had to make one be subservient to the other. I would not have been able to recognize that a biblical writer might have left in there, intentionally, an unresolved tension. The biblical writer is no fool! He didn’t just cut and paste and put things together. It is intentional. As he looks back on Israel’s history, the tensions and conflicts and the movement that made them what they were and what they became, he is trying to see the way in which the uncanny presence of God moves in the unsettled, unstable, unpredictable human, historical situation. It is a marvelous study of how Israel became the nation that it was and the writer in retrospect portrays both sides of the issue for us so that we could see these tensions that existed within this ancient people of God. There have always been those who have clung to old values--What shall we call them? Shall we call them the orthodox? Or conservatives? There have always been those who have felt that new times demand new solutions. That growing explosion of knowledge and new © Grand Valley State University �Culture Wars –Does God Take Sides? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   understanding in insights call for new arrangements. What shall we call them? Progressives? Liberals, maybe? There have always been those who have looked to the past in order to secure the present and the future. And there have been those on the other hand who, looking to the future, have recognized the necessity of scuttling the past as a straightjacket. In which camp would you have been? Would you have put your arm around Samuel and said, “You’re right, old boy. Things are going to pot and there may not even be a future if those radicals have their way. Everything is going to pot. No more morality. No more spirituality. No more God. Secularism. Secular humanism, etc.” Or would you have been one of the lobbyists who were pushing for the king and would you have said, “Look, the future is here. And the new situation demands that we move out of this inherited confederacy that has served its time. It’s time for a new form and a new structure to carry out into the future in order that we can be all that God would have us be.” Where would you have been? Let’s have an election. Shall we have another election? You can cast your vote. Why is it even important to look at this? In this fascinating biblical narrative, seeing these tensions, we might get a word of enlightenment for the present situation in our own nation and society. For we are a nation deeply divided. We are a society that is polarized and poisoning each other, and everybody claims that God is on his or her side. There is a kind of conflict of moral vision about what this nation ought to be, and what kind of society God is calling us to be. And moral vision held with passion sometimes becomes violent. There is name-calling and acrimony, and there is division and adversarial spirit - a kind of polarization that fragments society and makes civil and rational discourse almost impossible. So I think that it may well be that in this narrative we have some help to understand how we should negotiate these times. When I was at Brandeis three weeks ago I met Professor James Davison Hunter. I didn’t know at the time that he had authored a book which was reviewed in the October Perspectives, entitled by the way, Culture Wars. I picked up a copy a couple of weeks ago in New York. His focus is the struggle to define America making sense of the battles over the family, art, education, law and politics. It is an excellent study. James Hunter is an evangelical Christian, and he is an excellent sociologist. So I find this a very intelligent survey of what’s going on in our nation - the things that are tearing our society apart. I would recommend it to you. Culture Wars. He uses the phrase, and he points out the perils in which our society stands: the potential fragmentation and the potential for the breakdown of all discourse, which of course, is so essential for a democratic society. As we look at the biblical account, might it not help us simply to recognize in the first place that these tensions are endemic to the human situation? So you’re orthodox. That’s good! But that’s not all. And so you are a wild-haired liberal. That’s great! But it’s not the whole picture. The one who clings to ancient values and the one who reaches for that which is new and untested need each other. In a © Grand Valley State University �Culture Wars –Does God Take Sides? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   healthy society there will be a creative tension with a strong enough center to hold people together. But I think it is simply important first of all to recognize, not despair, and not throw up our hands as though it is the end of the world. We didn’t invent this kind of polarization. Maybe the mass media, and the television, and the sound bite, maybe that accentuates, maybe that polarizes and divides us more than in earlier times. I think that is probably true. But, nonetheless, we have to learn to live with that and to work with that. If you are conservative and orthodox, you have every right to be thus. And it is your responsibility to hold to values that are tried and true, and to make sure that the treasures of the past are not lost. Yours is a good voice, but it’s not the only voice. And if you are always champing at the bit, and always on the growing edge trying to break through to something not yet jelling, then, bless you! Keep everything unsettled and unstable. Be a nudging discomforter, but recognize that there are perils out there. As old Samuel said, “You are going to get your king, and you are going to get yours.” What we need in a healthy society is an acceptance of the legitimate and authentic tension that rests within any community of people. I like the way God is portrayed in this whole narrative. I think that I would have to say that God is kind of a grudging progressive. That I say without bias. (Oh, come on. Where’s your humor!) [Laughter] He says to Samuel, “Samuel, you’re right. You’re right.” I think the narrative is saying, “You can’t give up traditional values without some significant loss, but the nature of the historical experience is such that you have to keep moving on. Yes, they’ve rejected me. But listen to the people. Warn them, but listen to them. Give them their king. No arguing. No pouting. No raging. No manipulation. No coercion.” God seems to be able to handle that which is threatening to so many of us. God seems to be confident about the future and God’s ability to cope with the future regardless of which alternatives are chosen. And then I love this in Samuel’s farewell speech in the 12th chapter. The people are rather humbled at this point, and they say, “Pray to God for us.” And Samuel could say this to them, “For the Lord will not cast away his people, for his great name sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” Don’t you love that? Isn’t that the kind of God that you could worship? Samuel can say, “Look, this isn’t some petulant, petty, capricious deity. This is Almighty God. This is the Creator of the heavens and earth. This is the One who has created us in his image, who will not let any of his children go. This God will not abandon you. This God will not forsake you. Stop quivering in your boots. Trust God. God forbid that I should cease to pray for you. And I will continue to instruct you in the way you should go.” And then if you follow the story on, there is also this - that as there is this normal, inevitable kind of movement, the values of the old tend to get incorporated into the vision of the new. Samuel anointed Saul king, and the new was here. But Samuel said, “Saul, buddy, don’t think you’re a sovereign, an absolute like all © Grand Valley State University �Culture Wars –Does God Take Sides? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   those puppet kings around you. Saul, you’re just another citizen before the eternal, sovereign God.” And you know the thing that made Israel unique? Even when it became a monarchy, it was the fact that its king always trembled before the prophet - that its king knew that he was accountable and that he had no absolute sway, but must always regard the ways of righteousness and justice, and seek the ways of peace. The old values - the community and tribal confederacy in covenant with God – that somehow or other got laced into the monarchy, so that when we reach Chapter 16 we have David. We have the ideal king and it would seem for all the world that God always intended that there would be such a kingdom and there would be such a king - the Golden Age. Samuel wouldn’t have dreamed that it could be so good. I read from the Sermon on the Mount this morning because it seems to me that as God’s people we are called to that kind of posture and spirit and attitude. I think one of the great problems in our present social unrest is the fact that we have politicized things that cannot be politicized. You cannot legislate morality. You cannot legislate spirituality. The things that tear us apart - abortion, homosexuality, a National Endowment for the Arts, family values - those trigger words set off emotions and generate a lot of heat and very little light. They are not things that the government really can handle. Those are the things for us the people of God to deal with. We, as the people of God, are called to live an alternative community. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. Light illumines. Salt preserves.” And we are called to be Godlike. The God who causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and causes the fields of the righteous and the unrighteous alike to be watered with rain and snow. Jesus final word is “So, be like God.” The word perfect in the RSV is not a good translation. The word is kellos in Greek, which is the end or the purpose. Realize that for which God created you. God created you in God’s image. Be God-like, with a kind of universal benevolence, with a kind of love and a compassion, a justice and a seeking of love and fairness, and finally, peace in society. You be different. Don’t let the sound bites polarize you. When you feel your anger begin to rise, recognize that God is not on your side. Or rather, God is on your side - and on the side of your adversary. Have a moral passion, but lace it with humility and express it with compassion. Simply be God-like. God knows. God can handle this alternative, that alternative, and another alternative, but if somebody tells you, “This is God’s way,” don’t you believe him. God is bigger than that, bigger than my vision and your vision. A vision that embraces us all and calls us all to be civil and committed, agents of the kingdom that will surely come. Sorry folks, God doesn’t take sides. © 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 XXIII Series Heroes in Clay Scripture Text I Samuel 8: 19-20, Matthew 5:45 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-0-19921115 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-11-15 Title A name given to the resource Samuel: Culture Wars - Does God Take Sides? 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 15, 1992 entitled "Samuel: Culture Wars - Does God Take Sides?", as part of the series "Heroes in Clay", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Samuel 8: 19-20, Matthew 5:45. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Diversity History of Israel Justice Samuel https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d81657a9dcc8de15ae968cccfff522d9.mp3 11c3ddb233b365b45c95120f6e2f3de9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cc6ea7223b561166753b8b9955aa45ff.pdf 786789877e5075c521416f4232de558e PDF Text Text The Election of Grace: A Particular People for a Universal Purpose From the summer sermon series: Faith’s Foundations Text: Genesis 11:30; 12:1-3; Romans 11:32-36 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 31, 1988 Transcription of the spoken sermon Now Sarai was barren... Genesis 11:30 Now the Lord said to Abram, Go... and I will make of you a great nation... Genesis 12:1-3 For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all... from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever. Amen. Romans 11:32-36 Reading a textbook on preaching this week, I came across a statement by a Black theologian and preacher which struck me. He was making the point that Black culture has believed strongly in the providence of God and this deep trust has kept them alive through much oppression and suffering. Henry Mitchell claims that what has been true for Blacks is universally true. He says, ... We find the total spectrum of humanity that wishes really to live whole and abundantly must have a belief system to support that sort of thing. I share Mitchell's conviction. That is why we are spending successive Sunday mornings examining Faith's Foundations. My concern is deeply pastoral. I am not really interested in preparing you to write a crackerjack of a theological exam; I am interested in preparing you to live well, abundantly, with confidence and hope. Hope and confidence and a sense of wellbeing need a solid foundation if they will remain, no matter what circumstances surround you. Faith needs foundation. There are a few crucial truths which, if held in deep trust, enable one to negotiate life's passage. For example, "In the beginning God ..." © Grand Valley State University   �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 2   That is where the Bible begins. Genesis 1 is intentionally the opening statement of the Judeo-Christian faith. It is our answer to the question, "Why is there something, rather than nothing?" It enables us to sing, "This is my Father's world, I rest me in the thought..." But why, if this is my Father's world, is there tragedy, toil and tears? Chapters two and three tell us that God's gracious intention was that life should be characterized by freedom, vocation and boundaries - the creature living before the Creator in trust and obedience. Failing that, there is judgment, sorrow and loss, alienation, fear and guilt. Well, then, will the human "No" defeat the "Yes" of God? Will the Creator's purpose be ruined by the creature's grasping at control in self-assertion? Chapter three gave hints of grace even in judgment. And returning to the opening creed of creation, which runs through chapter 2:4a, we find God's verdict on Creation: it is good. And we read God rested on the seventh day and blessed it and made it holy, a sign that God's design and order and purpose would finally be realized. We read the vision of Isaiah 65 - a new heaven and a new earth, no more would one toil in vain or raise children for misfortune ... "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together ... They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain." And we heard the sound of the angel's voice in John's vision, "Behold the dwelling of God is with his people." No tears or crying or pain or death anymore. In the vision there was a crystal river on whose banks grew a tree whose leaves were for the healing of the nations and God's people need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord will give them light and they shall reign forevermore. With that beautiful vision of Creation's consummation, the People of God have lived in hope trusting that the best is yet to be, the future is as bright as the promise of God. God's "Yes" will not fail. The Sabbath Rest of the Bible's opening passage foreshadows the Rest of Creation in the Shalom of God. The first eleven chapters of Genesis were placed as a preface to Israel's story. That story is centered in God's mighty saving action that brought them to freedom from Egypt's bondage. But they knew their particular story was part of a larger story - the story of God's dealing with the whole Creation and the totality of humankind. The first eleven chapters are universal in scope just as the consummation in Revelations is universal. Israel's story is the story of a particular people, but it is not, nor can it be, isolated from the whole creation and all nations. Israel's faith is that the God of its salvation is the Creator of all who will bring all things to consummation. The story of the Christian Church is one with the story of Israel. Within the movement of universal history there is interwoven the history of a particular people - Israel and the Church and the history of that particular people is really the focus of the one story of the Bible. But that particular history is not an end in itself; it is a means to a greater end – the Creator's reclaiming of Creation gone awry. © Grand Valley State University �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 3   We have seen in Genesis 1 the Creator's intention for Creation. We have seen in Revelations the Creator's victory - the consummation of the purpose of Creation. But, you may ask - How do we get from the majestic image of Genesis 1 to the moving vision of Revelation 21 and 22? This message will attempt to answer that question - again, not simply to satisfy your curiosity but, rather, in order to give you a sense of what God is doing in our world, in our history, in our lives. We will focus on two passages of scripture as we seek to connect the Garden with the City of God. In our biblical study let us begin with Genesis 11:27-12:3. Genesis 11:27F gives us the genealogy of Abraham. We tend to skip scriptural genealogies, but this one is critical. The Genesis writer is forming a link between universal history - the history of all humankind about which he writes in the first 11 chapters and the particular history he is about to record, the history of the Patriarchs, the forebearers of Israel. In Genesis 11:30 we are told that Abram's wife Sarai is barren. This is no piece of Bible trivia; rather, this is a very intentional notation. Abraham and Sarah are called by God to go out from their family and homeland and go to a place God will show them. God gives them a promise: "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name so great that it will be used in blessings." And the promise continues, In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. With the call of Abraham we have the most significant break in the Scripture - a break of greater significance than the break between the Old and New Testaments. Genesis 12-50 gives us the story of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and forms the introduction to the creation of Israel as a nation in the Exodus event. This is the beginning of the story of a particular people called for a universal purpose. This particular people will be the agent through which God will reclaim a creation gone awry. What was the biblical writer saying by connecting the one called Abraham to the human family spoken of in the first eleven chapters? Was he not saying that after the dismal response of the human family to the Creator's call to live in freedom with vocation within the boundaries set by the Creator, the failure of the creature to trust and obey, God was now instituting a new strategy whereby the purposes with which He created would finally be realized in spite of the failure of the creature? Set on the background of the stories of God and all humankind in the first eleven chapters, we can see in God's call of Abraham the method God will use to reclaim © Grand Valley State University �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 4   the Creation gone awry. And against the background of the Creation stories we can understand the significance of the note in 11:30 that Sarai was barren. The one who calls the world into being will now call a special people into being. Abraham and Sarah are connected to the whole human family - so the genealogy affirms. But what God is about to do is not something possible through natural, normal human agency. Sarai is barren. The human story recorded in Genesis 1-11 ends in barrenness, in hopelessness. There is nowhere to go. God must create this new family by the miracle of God's power and grace. God will give a child to a barren woman and through this miracle birth, God will create an alternative community - a new community by which finally God will restore Creation to its unity and bring about Shalom. On the black background of the stories reflecting universal history, God calls a man and woman who are childless and promises to make from them a great nation that will bring blessing to all nations. The God Who creates the world now creates Israel. God creates Israel in order that, through Israel, God will reclaim all Creation. Abraham - contrary to the stories in Genesis 1-11 (Adam and Eve, Cain, the Flood story, the Tower of Babel) believes God and acts in faith on the promise of God. God says, "Go." Abraham goes. This is God's counter-strategy to human rebellion. When human faithlessness leads to barrenness and thus hopelessness, God calls one family to create an alternative community through which to bring salvation to the world. This God is not and will not be defeated. This God will not accept the human "No." This God will now begin a counter-offensive in order finally to establish His "Yes" to Creation. The call of God to Abraham is spoken of in the Bible as the Election of Grace. It is an election - a choice of a particular people. It is of grace - One was chosen out of the human family with no explanation given, for no reason in the one chosen. It is of God because the call is spoken to, the promise made to human barrenness. Election is the foundation of human salvation; it is the ground of human hope, the basis of human purpose. Election is a biblical teaching that has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. Israel had a sense of being God's elect people - and she was. Israel had a sense of being special - and she was. But Israel misunderstood God's election. She came to think of herself as God's special people to the exclusion of the nations rather than seeing in her election a calling to be a light to the nations. Israel became proud of her election rather than understanding that God's election is cause for humility, © Grand Valley State University �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 5   for God chooses not on the basis of merit, but on the basis of grace alone - it is pure gift. Rather than awe, humility, gratitude, Israel manifested pride and arrogance. Rather than sensing that she existed for the sake of the world, she set herself over against the world. Rather than seeing in her election God's universal purpose, Israel claimed God's grace as her particular possession. Rather than seeing in her election God's inclusive love, Israel claimed God's love as her exclusive possession. The History of God and Israel is spoken of in scripture as a covenantal relationship. The Old Testament describes the history of the covenant relationship and describes thus the Broken Covenant. Still, hope is not lost. Still, there is the conviction that God will not give up. There will be a new covenant. The New Testament is really the story of the New Covenant. Paul was a person of that old covenant who came to see in Jesus the promised Messiah, the anointed one promised in the Old Testament. He saw how the New Covenant was instituted in Jesus, in Jesus' death and resurrection. In Romans 9-11 he struggles with the question why Israel as a whole failed to see that Jesus was the Messiah, that in Jesus the New Covenant was formed. Paul anguished over Israel's rejection of Jesus. How could this be? Once again the question raised in Genesis 1-11 is raised by Paul: Will Israel's unbelief defeat God's purpose of election? Can the human "No" overcome the Divine "Yes"? Paul's wrestling with the problem of Israel's rejection of Jesus comes out in a tortuous path in those three chapters. If we read the letter as a whole, we find him first of all recognizing that Jew and Gentile are all alike guilty before God. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Then he presents God's way of righting the guilty through faith in Jesus Christ. In that moving eighth chapter, he writes of how Creation itself in bondage because of human sin, is nonetheless groaning in travail waiting to be set free from the curse - a clear reference to Genesis 3. He concludes his telling of redemption's story with that amazing statement, We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. And he says, "What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?" He concludes with that grand utterance, For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Then he comes to the source of his deep anguish - Israel's rejection of Jesus. He struggles to understand. Finally, Chapter 11 opens with the question, © Grand Valley State University �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I ask then, has God rejected his people? His answer is a resounding, "By no means!" He addresses the Gentiles who have believed, to whom the Gospel has come through Israel's rejection. He counsels humility and awe before the mysterious working of God's grace. Finally he concludes, ... God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all. And the thought of the final triumph of grace causes Paul's heart to overflow in doxology. O depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ... For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Paul cannot solve the mystery, but rather in wonder and awe he bows before the mystery. He knows not when or how, but he rests in the final triumph of the grace of God. This people Israel - Abraham's line - proved as disobedient in their time as did the totality of humankind whose stories are related in Genesis 1-11. Yet, Paul says God will have His way. God's last word is mercy upon all. The history of Israel from Abraham through all the generations of her history and through 2,000 years of the Christian Church has a midpoint - the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. When God's people said a resounding "No" to Jesus, putting him to death, God said an even more resounding "Yes," raising him from the dead. It was from Abraham's loins that Jesus came. It was in the barrenness of the human situation that God created an alternative community that issued in Jesus, the Anointed One who responded to God's yes with a faithful "Yes" in return. And Paul writes to the Ephesians, For Christ God chose us before the world was founded. Paul revels in the mystery of God's saving determination, a secret now revealed to him. The secret was a purpose which God formed in His own mind before time began, so that the periods of time should be controlled and administered until they reached their full development in which all things, in heaven and on earth, are gathered into one in Jesus Christ. How will God bring Creation to the consummation of His purpose? How will history move from the Garden to the City of God? The link is a people who are chosen by God, graced by God, called to be witnesses to God - a particular people © Grand Valley State University �The Election of Grace:…for a Universal Purpose Richard A. Rhem Page 7   whose gracious election has a universal purpose - to reclaim Creation and to bring all things to the realization of God's purpose. The Election of Grace is the only basis for hope, but it is enough; it is the sure guarantee that the Creator will bring creation to consummation. It is God's initiative through which He will have a people in every generation to witness to all peoples that God is God and God will finally reclaim Creation and bring all God's children home. We are the elect of God. To us the Gospel has been proclaimed, the grace of God given. We can rest in that – no matter what the day may bring, no matter how dark the night, how threatening the crises of life. We can count on that – no matter how frail our faith, how feeble our commitment, how fickle our devotion. That is the Good News by which we live. That is the Good News to which we witness to our neighbor and our world. Thanks be to God! © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title 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 X Series Faith's Foundation Scripture Text Genesis 11:30, 12:1-3, Romans 11:32-36 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-0-19880731 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-07-31 Title A name given to the resource The Election of Grace: A Particular People for a Universal Purpose 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 July 31, 1988 entitled "The Election of Grace: A Particular People for a Universal Purpose", as part of the series "Faith's Foundation", on the occasion of Pentecost X, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 11:30, 12:1-3, Romans 11:32-36. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Election Faith Hebrew Scriptures History of Israel Inclusive Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9d7800acae3b5bd83bb29ad9928a4823.mp3 710779491cc81b9a94703b56fdb79ad6 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fc0f432b876419c49ee8237d5cb017f5.pdf e12b99ed207ef16593a54d2f65cb8e4d PDF Text Text Creation’s Goal: Sabbath Rest From the summer sermon series: Faith’s Foundation Text: Genesis 2:2-3; Isaiah 65:23, 25; Revelation 21:3; 22:2-4 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 24, 1988 Transcription of the spoken sermon On the sixth day God completed all the work He had been doing, and on the seventh day He ceased from all His work. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy...Genesis 2:2-3 They shall not toil in vain or raise children for misfortune... they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. Isaiah 65:23,25 Now at last God has His dwelling among humankind! Revelation 21:3 ... the leaves of the trees serve for the healing of the nations. Every accursed thing shall disappear. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be there and His servants shall worship Him; they shall see Him face to face. Revelation 22:2-4 In the beginning, God. And in the end, God. And in the meantime, every seven days, the Sabbath in which to rest and to contemplate the God of our end and of our beginning. In the midst of its history, Israel told its story over and over again and finally wrote its story down - the center being the story of God's mighty act of deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, the freeing of God's people, and the bringing of them to their own land. As they reached back to trace their own history, they appended to the story of their history a prologue, the story of the Patriarchs. And then, in order to connect themselves to the whole cosmos and the whole human race, they appended a series of stories in which they gave expression to their understanding of the universal human condition and the creative purpose of the Eternal God, of the relationship of God and human society, of their understanding of the life and the existence in which they were participating. Genesis 1, "In the beginning, God," expressed the bedrock of their conviction that all that is, is because God said, "Let there be ...," that there is something rather than nothing because God said, "Let there be...," and that the totality of reality is a consequence of a creative intention and design of the One © Grand Valley State University   �Creation’s Goal: Sabbath Rest Richard A. Rhem Page 2   true and eternal God. They went on to speak of the human situation - the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden in chapters 2 and 3. Not a story of two ancient individuals, but your story and my story, the human story, the story of the God Who calls us to vocation, grants us freedom, sets certain limits and boundaries and waits for our response. Genesis 2 and 3 tell us that the tragedy and the tears and the toil of the human situation are the consequence of the human creature usurping sovereignty, taking one's life and destiny into one's own hands, trying to manage and control that which only God can manage and control. Consequently, the disaster and the tragedy that is a very real part of the human situation. We looked last week at the Garden of Eden and the story of Adam and Eve, and we saw the setting and the test and the failure and the consequence, but even in that dark story there were hints of grace. Even there there were indications that God was not through, and that the disobedience of the creature would not finally disrupt the intention of the Creator. In the day that they ate thereof, they did not die. Driven from the Garden, to be sure, yet amidst toil and tears, carrying on a meaningful existence, raising a family, God graciously clothing them, covering the shame of their nakedness, giving us hints of grace and the sense that God was not through with this creature, and that the creature's disobedience would not finally disrupt the Creator's intention. Indeed, the sense we get is that the Creator will bring creation to the consummation of His original intention. That was the faith of Israel. That was the conviction of the Old Testament people of God. The Creator will bring creation to the realization of the Creator's purposes of love and grace. So, Israel appended these stories to its own history, these stories which had universal application and were the common store of all humanity. Israel appended those stories in order to give expression to its own understanding of who it was and what it was called to be and why the human situation was like it was. When it seemed to be all lost at the end of the third chapter, we have the hints of grace, and we ask ourselves, "What now? Where will it lead? What's going to happen? What's next? Who will win - the 'No' of the creature, or the 'Yes' of God?" And we set ourselves up for this breathless drama that will unfold before us. Well, it's not only an ancient question, you know. Is there any hope? Has history any meaning? Is the world going anywhere? What's it all about? What now? What next? In a year of election politics we're going to have many easy answers to the world's dilemma. If you'll pardon just a bit of pastoral cynicism in the wake of a political convention, let me ask the question whether there’s anyone here this morning that really thinks that either Michael Dukakis or George Bush can really change the intransigence of the Pentagon. Is there anybody here this morning that really believes that Gorbachev and perestroika and glastnost will change the © Grand Valley State University �Creation’s Goal: Sabbath Rest Richard A. Rhem Page 3   face of the Soviet Union? Is there anyone here this morning that believes that the hopelessness of the homeless and the hunger of the hungry and the thirst of the thirsty, the despair of the despairing and the lostness of the forsaken will simply be taken care of by the wave of the wand of a new administration? Is there any hope? Where is it going? Where will it end? Might not one, seriously reflecting on the human condition, on the national scene, on the international prospect, come to a sense of futility and hopelessness? And if that's true in the most powerful nation in the most affluent society, in the summertime in western Michigan with sand and surf and blue sky, then what must it have been to the people in exile in the sixth century, the people of Judah living under the oppression of Babylon ready to throw in the towel, ready to say that the gods of Babylon have it? Where is our Lord and God? Is there any hope? It was to that situation that some person of God stood up and said, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and God spoke and it was so, and God looked and said it's good, and the evening and the morning were the first day. And when God was done, God rested from all His work of creation and took delight in it. He blessed the seventh day and made it holy." And to those exiles in Judah, forlorn and despairing in hopelessness, mantled with a sense of futility, they heard the creed of creation put together by some very, very astute weaver of words and ideas which made a powerful statement in their darkness and said, "Our God in the beginning spoke and called all things into being. Our God is the source of light and our God is the source of life. Now, lift up your hearts and wait on the Lord, Who after all of the work of creation, rested, ceased from His work, caught His breath, contemplated the work of creation and said it is good." By putting that seventh day, a day in which God created nothing but tranquility and serenity and peace at the conclusion of the creed of creation, the writer was saying that in the end God will have His way. Genesis 1 was written probably 500 years after Genesis 2 and 3. Five centuries later some prophet of God took it and put it in front of Genesis 2 and 3 in order that Genesis 2 and 3 and everything that followed would be read in the light of Genesis 1, "In the beginning, God," so that there would never be any question in the minds of the people of God that the God that they worshiped was the God of Creation, that the God of their salvation was God alone, the One Who held the whole world in His hand and held their destiny in His hand and in His heart. There was a vision of the Creator Who would bring creation to consummation. That's what Sabbath meant, and that's why every seventh day Israel was called again and again to remember God, to cease from their labor, to desist from their acquisition and their feverish activity, to let go and contemplate God and to worship and to rest and to take delight in God's world. There was a vision by which that people lived through all their days, and in their darkest moments a dream kept them alive. It was the dream of the Creator Who was the redeemer, Who would be the consummator. And what was the dream? Well, around the © Grand Valley State University �Creation’s Goal: Sabbath Rest Richard A. Rhem Page 4   same time that Genesis 1 was written there was a prophet speaking to the exiles in Judah who said, "In the name of God, behold I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered. And there will no longer be a child born living for a few days, dying in infancy. And they'll not toil in vain. They'll build houses and live in them. They'll plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. It's going to be a beautiful new world, a new heaven and a new earth. Why, he said, it will be such that all toil and all tears and all tragedy will be removed and they'll not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. Shalom. Peace." Right in the midst of their darkness, one prophet said, "In the beginning, God," and another prophet said, "I create a new heaven and a new earth." It didn't come, and it didn't come, and it didn't come. But, one day Jesus came, and Jesus announced the sovereignty of God, the kingdom of God. And Jesus called to repentance all of those who were living by relative values, called them to God and the kingdom of God. Of course, Jesus was crucified, but God raised him up, raised him up on the first day of the week, and the Early Church moved its worship from the seventh day to the first day, but with exactly the same intention, because they called it the Lord's day, the Lord's day. In the Old Testament the day of the Lord was the day of the End, and what the Church was saying was that the Lord's day is the anticipation of the day of the Lord, of the End, of the Judgment, of the Consummation. What did they believe would be true at the End? Well, we read the magnificent vision, that vision given by Jesus to John when he was in exile for his witness to Jesus when the Roman Empire was mighty in the world, as mighty in its world as the U.S. of A. in ours, or the Soviet Union in our day. And when the persecuting fires of Rome were burning and raging, there was one who had the audacity while he himself was in exile, to bear witness to a vision he had, a dream. What was the dream? The dream was of the heavens opened and the throne of God and of the Lamb, and he heard them singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, Thou art worthy to receive power and glory and dominion, for Thou hast created all things, and Thou hast power to reign." And the vision went on, scene after scene, and he saw that time when the angel would proclaim the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. He saw all of the events of the consummation coming to their climax and he heard a voice out of heaven saying, "I create a new heaven and a new earth," and he heard a voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with human persons. And he will dwell with them and they shall be His people and He will be their God. And He'll wipe away every tear from their eyes, and pain shall be no more, nor crying and death shall be no more, for all the former things shall pass away. Behold, I make all things new." And then he saw the City and he saw a river sparkling like crystal coming down the midst of the city, and on its banks was a tree with leaves and the leaves were for the healing of the nations. And the throne was there, the throne of the Lord and of the Lamb and His people worshiped. He wrote His name on their foreheads, and they didn't need the sun or the lamp, for the Lord Himself is their light, and they shall reign forever and ever. © Grand Valley State University �Creation’s Goal: Sabbath Rest Richard A. Rhem Page 5   A dream. A vision spoken into the darkness, spoken into circumstances that seemed to deny it, into a human situation that seemed to betray it over and over again, but a dream and a vision, nonetheless. Every seventh day, people of God cease from their labors, let go, rest as God rested, receiving the world and life as a gift, all of grace, being free for each other, free for God. One seventh of a human person's existence given over to the contemplation of God, Creator, Redeemer, Consummator. One-seventh of our lives carved out in order amidst all of the pressures that press upon us and all of the forces that beat us down and all of the darkness that would enshroud us, one-seventh of our lives to stop, to be still, and to know that He is God, the God of the beginning and the God of the End, the God Who will make good on all His promises, the God Whose yes is stronger than any human no. The God before Whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess, the God Who will finally win and not be defeated. When we join with myriads and myriads and thousands of angels and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders and the whole created order and sing, "Hallelujah, the Lord Omnipotent reigns." There's a parable at the beginning; there's a parable at the end. There's a garden at the beginning; there's a city at the end. And both of them point us to the deepest, most profound truth that we can ever come to contemplate: the God of our beginning will be the God of our end. That's why every seventh day there is nothing more wonderful than resting in the presence of God. The day of all the week the best, emblem of eternal rest. Alleluia, blessed be His holy name. 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 IX Series Faith's Foundation Scripture Text Genesis 2:2-3, Isaiah 65:23, 25, Revelation 21:3, 22:2-4 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-0-19880724 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-07-24 Title A name given to the resource Creations' Goal: Sabbath Rest 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 July 24, 1988 entitled "Creations' Goal: Sabbath Rest", as part of the series "Faith's Foundation", on the occasion of Pentecost IX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 2:2-3, Isaiah 65:23, 25, Revelation 21:3, 22:2-4. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creator Divine Intention Grace Hebrew Scriptures History of Israel Nature of God Sabbath Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3beaea8e4177efca51fe3639d4e03cd7.mp3 a9b639ee202efa59b3154fd63d5dfc03 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a2b89b74740616688e08cc3d9836e321.pdf 8c031b1a084e9e240797f7a092ca06c1 PDF Text Text The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Text: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent, December 14, 1986 Transcription of the spoken sermon …Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 …his name shall be called Immanuel (which means God with us). Matthew 1:23 The great Boston preacher of the 19th Century, Phillips Brooks, wrote the carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," in 1868 for the children of his parish to sing in their Sunday School Christmas program. It has become a favorite. It was as I was reflecting on the course of the Christian era over centuries past that the phrase from Brooks' carol came to mind The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. In that small Judean village a child was born and the carol's author sensed well the biblical witness regarding that birth; it was the pivot point of history. Hopes and fears - a rather good description of the alternating moods of our lives, our corporate existence in the community of nations, our family life, our individual lives. Living in hope of some desired event or resolution; living in fear of some dread result. The hopes and fears of all the years came to sharp focus in Bethlehem: The hope that life has purpose and meaning, that it is going somewhere, that our toil and tears, our suffering and sadness will not be to no avail, ending in emptiness or nothingness. Fearing that we may not hold on, that our best efforts and worst sins may end in a morass of meaninglessness. Tracing the history of Western Civilization from the sixth and seventh centuries to the present has been an interesting and helpful study. One cannot help but sense the ebb and flow of historical tides; one cannot help but realize how shortsighted we are in our quick reaction to events of the immediate present. No doubt © Grand Valley State University   �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 2   that is exaggerated in our day because of the instant news coverage of everything that happens around the globe. There is such a bombardment of facts and opinions fastened on the immediate that one gets a skewed sense of things. There is little historical perspective and sober reflection on the larger patterns of history. We get a sense of the super importance of the present and we are overly impressed with one moment on the canvas of history. We lose the sense of being linked in the larger chain of beings and we lose perspective on that which ultimately matters. NBC may be the first to scoop the events breaking in Washington, but they were not there in Bethlehem. If they had been, you can bet their camera would have been at Herod's court or Jerusalem and Tom Brokaw would probably have remained in Rome at the Imperial residence. Yet in the dark stillness of Bethlehem streets the hopes and fears of all the years were focused. It was not an easy world then. It was in quite as much turmoil then as now. That part of the world has been an open wound on the earth's surface for centuries. Rome was the occupying force. The period of history is part of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace; it was, however, a peace enforced by Roman legions, an enforced peace - certainly not the biblical shalom. Herod was the puppet ruler by the grace of Rome and he was jealous for his power and the perpetuation of his kingdom. Paranoia broke out with a vengeance following the visit of the Magi who spoke of the appearance of a star which foretold the birth of royalty. Male children two years and under were massacred by Herod's order just in case it might be true that one had been born who would lay claim to Herod's throne. Can you imagine the brutality of that world? Can you imagine the fears with which a mother raised a child in that time? Yet even in that brutal age with no press corps to keep a monarch honest, there were serious, reflective spirits who yearned for something better - hopes were present even in the world of pagan Rome. Hans Küng reports that In the year 42 or 41 before Jesus' birth, at the beginning of the fifteenth year of grievous civil war following on the murder of Caesar, the Roman poet Virgil in his famous Fourth Eclogue announced the birth of a world savior. Was this an expression of hope in Caesar's great nephew and adopted son, Octavius and his house? In any case, when Octavius finally returned to Rome in the year 29, as sole ruler, after the victory over Antony and Cleopatra, his first official act was to close the temple of Janus, the double-faced god of war. And "Augustus divi Felius" – "son of the divine one" (of Caesar elevated after his death to be a state god), translated in the Greek East as "Son of God" – did everything possible to realize the hopes nourished by Virgil of © Grand Valley State University �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the Utopia of an imminent reign of peace; Pax Romana, Pax Augusta, sealed with the consecration of the gigantic Ara Paces Augustae, the Augustan altar of peace, in the year 9 B.C.. In the same year (according to the famous inscription found in 1890 in Priene in Asia Minor and later elsewhere) the "gospel" (evangelion, "good news") of the birthday of the "Saviour" and "God" who had now appeared - Caesar Augustus - was proclaimed in the East to the whole world: the savior who had brought to the broken world new life, happiness, peace, fulfillment of ancestral hopes, salvation. (On Being a Christian, p. 438) Was not that ancient world as weary as our own of the interminable conflict, war, suffering and death that has been history's hallmark from the beginning? In Isaiah's time it was little different than our own. The Old Testament lesson reports the international crisis, the intrigue, the maneuvering for position that occurred in the Eighth Century B.C. The year was 734 B.C. On the world horizon, a great Empire was forming and its massive power was becoming a threat to all its neighboring peoples. That empire was Assyria, whose King was Tiglath-Pileser. The smaller neighboring peoples began to confer together. If they united, perhaps they could resist the Assyrian power. There was Syria whose capital was Damascus and whose King was Rezin. There was Israel, the Northern Kingdom, whose capital was Samaria and whose King was Pekah. They formed an alliance and urged their neighbor to the South, Judah, whose King was Ahaz, to join with them. But Ahaz was not ready to join. He, too, knew Assyria was growing in might and influence, but he feared that joining such an alliance would provoke the Assyrians and goad them into an attack. Thus, he rejected the offer of Israel and Syria who, in turn, felt they could ill afford to have their southern flank exposed and decided, consequently, that they would move forcibly against Judah and put a puppet king on the throne. They marched against Jerusalem and King Ahaz and his people tumbled. Jerusalem was besieged and Ahaz was terrified. It seemed he had but two options — yield and join the alliance against Assyria, or appeal directly to Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian King, which would make him a vassal of Assyria. A third option never occurred to him: to stand firm and trust God. That, however, was precisely the counsel of the prophet Isaiah. God's word through the prophet was: Be on your guard, keep calm; do not be frightened or unmanned by these two smoldering stumps of firewood… (Isaiah 7:4) © Grand Valley State University �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Although they were determined to bring Jerusalem to its knees, the prophet's word was clear: This shall not happen now, and never shall… Have firm faith, or you will not stand firm. (7:96). Ahaz was a practical man. Talk of standing firm and trusting God was foreign to him. He did not really want to hear Isaiah's word. And so God's word came a second time. This time Isaiah went a step further, offering a sign if the King desired. Ask the Lord your God for a sign, from lowest scheol or from highest heaven. (7:11) And the world lives under a cloud of fear, driven to the brink of hopelessness, yet always hoping, as well, that some conference or summit might yet produce peace on earth. Isaiah's word to Ahaz was trust God for, beyond Damascus and Samaria and Assyria, beyond the kings and rulers of the earth, the Sovereign of history is working His purposes out. And as a sign that that is indeed the case, a child will be born and named Immanuel. That sign was not lost on Matthew reporting the birth narrative of Jesus. In Matthew's narrative of the birth of Jesus, he cites this Isaiah passage, seeing the child Jesus as the ultimate expression of the truth that God is with us. After telling of Joseph's dream in which he was told of Mary's child, Matthew writes: All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord declared through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God is with us.’ Isaiah's statement did not say anything about a virgin bearing a child. The Hebrew word for virgin was not used and the word used refers to a young woman of marriageable age. Matthew definitely uses the passage to support a virginal birth, but he adds that. It is not in Isaiah. It is not our purpose in this message to deal with the question of the Virgin Birth, but I only point out here that in the Old Testament context there is no reference to a virgin birth. The sign is a child of natural birth whose presence points to the presence of God; whose name says it: Immanuel, God with us. And this is important for Matthew, too. If you stop to think about it, Jesus was named Jesus, not Immanuel. Jesus means Saviour. His name was sign-ificant. But Matthew is not concerned that he was not specifically named Immanuel, but only that he be understood as being a sign of God's presence. © Grand Valley State University �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 5   If a child born in Judah in the days of King Ahaz sign-ified God with us, then Matthew says the final and fullest sign of that truth has occurred in the birth of the child Jesus. Matthew wrote a Gospel. That is, Matthew wrote Good News. The Good News is that God is with his people. The Gospel is the story of God's action for his people in Jesus. The Gospel begins with his birth - Immanuel. The Gospel ends with Jesus' word, "I am with you always, to the end of time." That is no coincidence. Matthew brackets the good news with the fundamental truth of God's presence with his people. A child is born whose sign-ificance is "God is with us." The child grows, becomes a man, proclaims the Kingdom, is crucified, resurrected and leaves our spacetime world with the words his name sign-ified, "I am with you always." (Matt. 28:20). Ahaz was not interested. The fact was he did not believe in the preserving power of God. But he did not want to admit that and so he covered up his unbelief with a clever bit of false piety. He said, No, I will not put the Lord to the test by asking for a sign. (7:12) Isaiah was not fooled by this apparent piety about not putting God to the test. Rather, he was exasperated. He set the record straight: Listen, House of David, are you not content to wear out men’s patience? Must you also wear out the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. (7: 13-14) And herewith comes the familiar promise associated so indelibly in our minds with the much later birth of Jesus. A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son and will call him Immanuel. (7:14b) In Hebrew that name means "God with us." Who bore the child and who the child was, we do not know. A Jewish tradition says the child was born to Ahaz's wife and was Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, who succeeded him. That, however, is not important. The point of the sign is simply this; a child would soon be born and before that child was weaned or in a period of two to three years, the Syrian and Israelite powers that were presently ringing Jerusalem would themselves be decimated and destroyed. Because of his lack of faith, Ahaz would not enjoy peace and prosperity, but at least at this juncture, Jerusalem and Judah would be spared. The hostile nations would come to misfortune. They need not be feared. © Grand Valley State University �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 6   And every time Ahaz looked on the child he would be reminded that the God Who is for His people is the God Who is with His people. That is the Gospel; that is good news. Ahaz rejected the sign. He followed his own judgment, which was disastrous. He appealed to Tiglath-Pileser and the Assyrian King happily responded, moved in and reduced Judah to a vassal state. Isaiah denounced the action and predicted that Ahaz had opened the floodgates to an Assyrian takeover, which, indeed, he had. Such is the historical context in which Isaiah's word about the sign of a child whose name was Immanuel was spoken. We could change the names of the nations and the leaders and we might be reading the history of the late twentieth century. The Iranian Arms Deal has filled our news for a month now. Only short years after the devastation worked by the fundamentalist revolution in Iran, we are negotiating with Khomeini. Israel, whose existence is not granted by the Arab powers, becomes the middle man in a game of international intrigue that siphons off the profits of arms sale to an adversary to support a revolution in Central America. Our administration argues the necessity of such negotiation because Iran is so crucial in the larger chess game between the super powers whose nuclear arsenals are aimed at each other. We celebrate another Advent. We live in a world with good cause for fear - more cause than Ahaz or even Phillips Brooks dreamed of; we live in a world whose technology has been perfected to a point where we can explode this planet. Yet we are a people of hope. Our world has been the recipient of a sign, the sign of a child whose sign-ificance is "God with us." We live in hope because we trust in God. In God, not in Washington, or Moscow, or Geneva. We do not despise the efforts of world leaders; we rather encourage their efforts and pray for their success. Yet, we know the world has not changed much. Still pride of nation, lust for power, drivenness of ego despoils the world. No human solution will save us; we need the intervention of God. In the sign of a child we have the assurance of his presence with us. He has come to us; He will come to us in history's consummation; He is with us. How we wish God would mount a bulldozer and flatten every obstacle and remove every obstruction to his Kingdom purposes. But that is not his way. He comes with all the force of a hint, with rumor of angels, with the vulnerability of a child. © Grand Valley State University �The Hopes and Fears of All the Years Richard A. Rhem Page 7   It is Advent again. It is not easy to believe. Yet the choice confronts us: Will we live in hope, keeping the vision, or, in bleak despair? Will we give in to fear, to bitterness and cynicism? Advent is a season to lift up our eyes, to await with expectation the coming of the God Who came to us in a child and promises a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that the child has become the Lord, the Sovereign of Nations, the Prince of Peace. Emmanuel – God with us – the promise of God coming to us, the promise of a day when the Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of his Christ. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! © 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 III Scripture Text Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1:23 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-0-19861214 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-12-14 Title A name given to the resource The Hopes and Fears of All the Years 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 14, 1986 entitled "The Hopes and Fears of All the Years", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1:23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Birth of Jesus History of Israel Hope Meaning Presence of God Prophet War