1 24 2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/29e719464bf5c67d68a27abb47888c1b.mp3 4e3bf42ab268c6297e0416e13e4af7af https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c4c9a98e969cfe5c9f9565c083a8d4fb.pdf fbcb3ac7a3d28454a2194ea5ef036ec1 PDF Text Text Somebody Has To Believe! From the series: Heroes in Clay: Moses Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 8, 1992 Transcription of the spoken sermon Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Exodus 3:11 Now faith is the assurance of things hopes for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 Two weeks ago, the last time that I was with you in this setting, I told you that I was leaving for Boston for Brandeis University, and for the think tank on Congregational Affiliation, which is funded by the Lilly Foundation and is centered at the Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis outside of Boston. I told you just briefly what I intended to say on Sunday night in the worship that I was to lead - the Protestant worship service for that mixed group of Protestants, Catholics and Jews. You were so very kind. You even applauded, and I left here feeling I hardly needed the airplane in order to fly there. It was a great encouragement to me and so many of you since I have returned have asked me about it that I feel I must take just a moment to let you know it was one of those experiences for which, having looked forward to it with great anticipation, all my expectations were met. So seldom that happens in life - you look forward to something and then it happens and we say, “Is that all there is?” But this was really a wonderful experience, full of stimulation, full of very wonderful people. There were about 50 of us and then a few presenters. The subject was Congregational Affiliation and, as I said a few weeks ago, the reason the study is being made is that many people in our culture are not affiliating with churches and synagogues, and so the purpose was to find out why, and to try to find ways in which to encourage people to return to the churches and to the synagogues. My Reformation Day message to them was a word in due season to the right crowd. I didn’t know who was going to be there and, had I known, I would have been scared to death, I think. There were a few denominational executives, many professors in sociological research in religion, and then there were a few gardenvariety practitioners like myself. But when I said to them at the conclusion of the message that we have met the enemy and it is us - it could not have been spoken more poignantly to a better crowd. My suggestion was that the big problem is all of our divisions, all of our structures and institutions that keep us separated and © Grand Valley State University   �Somebody Has To Believe! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   apart from one another. And so my message was a word of judgment at the purpose of the whole think tank. What a way to honor an invitation! It would have helped a little bit if I had had a little more leisure time. I knew that the schedule was tight, but the plane was late and then the taxicab got lost. I was to preach at 7:30 p.m. and I walked in at 7:30. It is a wonderful way to get ready for divine worship, biting your fingernails all the way. But it went quite well, actually. It was quite well received in spite of the fact that I was suggesting that maybe we were dealing with the symptoms rather than getting down to the root cause. But I did what I promised to do. I suggested that we undo the divisions between Catholics and Protestants, between the East and the West, between Islam and Judaism, and between Christianity and Judaism. Just a mild proposal. (Laughter) An impossible possibility. But it is a possibility, and after being there and associating with priests and pastors and rabbis, I believe it could happen if we would all simply get out of the way. There is really not any good reason why we could not all be children of God - together, except for the vested interest in established institutional structures. I believed that before I went, I said it while I was there, and coming away from the experience I am convinced that it is true. The problem is to find somebody who will believe it. To find somebody who would be outrageous enough to propose it and actively pursue it. That’s what this world desperately needs. Somebody to believe. Somebody to believe that things do not have to be forever as they have been. Somebody to believe that God has dreams and surprises that have not yet entered the human mind to conceive of. Someone to believe. Today, and for a couple of weeks, I want to look at some biblical characters. Heroes. Heroes in Clay. God knows we need heroes. We love heroes, and we have in our past heroic men and women of faith. But, if we are honest, the heroes are always heroes in clay, for the point that I want to make is not that these were gigantic figures, extraordinary people who are able to do great things for God. My point is simply this: that God is able to do extraordinary things through very ordinary people if only God can find a man or a woman to believe. God knows somebody has to believe. Moses is our first Hero in Clay. The story is so very familiar. The situation is the oppression of Egypt. Male children of the Israelites are being killed at birth because of the population growth and the threat that these Israelites posed to the Pharaoh. This mighty civilization of the ancient world was now in slavery, and their children were being done away with. Moses was miraculously rescued, nursed by his own mother, after having been rescued by a daughter of Pharaoh and raised in the splendor and nurture of that marvelous Egyptian civilization, coming to a point of responsibility in a leadership role. But seeing his own people, the Hebrew slaves, abused, he rises up in indignation one day and kills an Egyptian. And, in that moment of wrath, righteous though it may have been, he © Grand Valley State University �Somebody Has To Believe! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   recognizes that his whole life now is changed. He flees Egypt. He finds the wilderness. He tends sheep for a man named Jethro, whose daughter he marries. And for years and decades he broods on the course of his life and that moment that changed everything. He must certainly have gone through times when he said to himself, “Egypt must have it right and the gods of Egypt that seal and bless that whole system must be Gods indeed. The slaves are but animals, worth nothing. My righteous rising up and committing of murder was an irrational moment without foundation in truth.” But was it? As he brooded on it, at other times must he not have been gripped by the conviction that, “No, that can not be right. Slaves are slaves, but slaves are human. Slaves are people. Slaves have feelings. Slaves must not be used as a commodity, as so much chattel. As he brooded in the isolation of the desolate wilderness, I wonder if he churned inwardly. All of his education. All of his culture. Now in that isolated wilderness with hours and days and years to think. Chaim Potok, the Jewish novelist, is the one who gave me a window into the psyche of Moses, how he must have struggled with that watershed moment of his life - that rash action and what it was that caused him to rise up and kill a man. It may have been the culmination of those years of internal struggle that caused him one day to be confronted with a phenomenon - a bush that burned but was not consumed. I think so often in our Sunday School theology we picture a literal bush and a literal flame, and an audible voice and all of that, but I think Potok may be right that, suddenly, all of that that was churning within him came to a point in which God manifested God’s self. There was that inward conviction that the gods of Egypt were not gods, that there must be another God, some other source of truth that was pressuring him and pushing him. Then he hears a voice that comes in a vision, full of mystery and awe, in which he is encountered by this wholly other One who says, “Take off your shoes, for this is holy ground. I have heard the cry of my people. You are right, Moses. Treating human beings as a commodity is wrong. Slavery is wrong. I am the God of people who would have them free and accorded dignity and respect. You are right, Moses, and I call you to go and to lead them out of their servitude, and I will be with you.” Moses says, “Who? Me? Who are you?” “I am that I am” comes the answer. Now that translation is not a good translation. The Hebrew translated by our verb “to be” doesn’t exist in the Hebrew language. There is no verb for “being.” That’s too static. Rather, those who know the language have a nuance which suggests that what God was saying was not, “This is my name,” but “I am the God who will be there for you. I will be truly there. I will be present for you. I will be whatever I need to be in any situation wherever you go.” So in Moses we have the coming together of a deeply held truth about what God would have for human persons, and this sense - this word, “Go. I’ll go with you.” Too often I think we set biblical heroes high on a pedestal as though they were some other breed than the rest of us. We assume that it must have been crystal © Grand Valley State University �Somebody Has To Believe! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   clear. Moses, just go and do it. But it wasn’t so crystal clear as indicated by the subsequent conversation with God. If we had time to go on to the fourth chapter we would find Moses saying, “Can’t we reconsider? Who am I, after all? Not me, please. I can’t even speak eloquently,” and finally, “Could you send somebody else?” This is God’s hero - wanting to pass the buck. This is the man of deep conviction - full of self-doubt, shrinking from the moment of encounter after the moment of epiphany. A Hero in Clay - just like the rest of us. Scared to death. Shrinking from the execution of that which had gripped him in the depths of his being. “But, Moses, somebody has to believe.” “Yes, but not me - please could you send somebody else?” Isn’t that so like our human experience? Can’t you identify with Moses at a time like that? Rather than marching forth in the strength of God on the basis of this revelation, this epiphany, this bush that burned and was not consumed, Moses slinks away and tries to get out of it. If only it could have been nailed down with certainty. Isn’t that the way we wish we could live? I met with a couple this summer. Their life seemed as though it might be coming to a crossroad. They gave me a call, hoping that this man of God could help them determine which way the arrow of God’s will was pointing. (Ah hah.) I just smiled at them. They said, “Well how can we know?” I said, “You can’t know.” How do you know the will of God? You don’t know the will of God. Oh, sometimes some few of us have some kind of mystical experience, some kind of clarity. But for the most part, we live making decisions one after another, so wishing we really knew, but we really don’t know. That’s what it means to be human. We live in the ambiguity of our historical existence where we always have to decide with partial knowledge and limited understanding. And so the decisions, ultimately, are decisions made on faith. Could you send somebody else? Now the deep conviction and the promise of God’s presence are neutralized by fear. That’s our great enemy. We are afraid. What if we crawl out on a limb and somebody cuts it off? “What if I cross the border into Egypt and they still have papers for my arrest?” “What if I go to the people with this message that you purportedly are giving me and they reject me? What if I try and fail?” Are we not time and again stunted by fear? Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of making a fool of ourselves? We don’t expose our deepest yearnings and desires and hopes and dreams. We don’t dare tell anybody because we are afraid they will laugh. And after all, how do we really know? Last week I was in New York at our Perspectives board meeting, and someone suggested that we need to do an issue on angels. One of the members of the board said, “I’m running into people all over the place who are having all sorts of experiences with angels.” And someone else said, “I’m not.” He was told, “You are probably not giving them permission to tell you.” Do you remember the stories of near death experiences that exploded a few years ago? Suddenly, one was reported and then another, and then a whole rash of © Grand Valley State University �Somebody Has To Believe! Richard A. Rhem Page 5   them because most of us don’t dare tell those deepest intuitions, longings and dreams of our life. We are too afraid. Afraid that we will be laughed at, scorned or rejected. Moses said, “I think probably you would probably be there for me, and I do think that it would be right that slaves be set free, but could you send somebody else?” About two or three years ago after one of my Perspectives meeting I reported to you that we had met with Edwin Mulder, the Executive Secretary of the Reformed Church, and suggested to him that perhaps, rather than frantically trying to rescue the Reformed Church in America, we ought to begin a process of orderly dismantling. That was not an easy word for Ed to hear at that time. We met with him again Monday because we have an annual executive review of our work, and the mood was different. Ed suggested that it may be a few years away but, all things being equal, a dismantling may be in store. I heard after he left he had just announced his retirement in June of 1994. So I came home and wrote him a letter and I congratulated him on his decision and affirmed him for his work, and then said to him that I had noticed on election night that John Chancellor, the retired elder statesman, seemed to have so much fun. He was so relaxed. Retirement has a way of doing that to you, you know. When we are in the trenches and have the harnesses on, we are so serious and have such a sense of responsibility. Everything seems so heavy. Our creative juices can get all dried up. But there was old Chancellor having a ball. And I said to Ed, “Now that you have announced, let me suggest that the last eighteen months be the best you’ve ever had. Why don’t you propose some outrageous thing? Why don’t you get the heads of the denominations together, and suggest to all the giants that we dismantle and start over? Why don’t you have a ball in this last eighteen months? Have fun! Be outrageous!” Well, I will be interested to see how he responds to that. (Laughter) But, that is where I began. I am convinced that energy and resources and worry is poured into religious institutions and structures in order to sustain yesterday’s answer, in order to perpetuate anachronistic structures that do not bring together God’s people, but actually keep us all separate in our respective boxes. The thing that needs to happen at that think tank is not that we find ways to make our respective institutions prosper, but that we find a way to transcend our respective institutions in order that we might find a new energy and a new way to carry us into the third millennium. Somebody has got to believe! Somebody’s got to say, “Enough of business as usual. Enough of all of this fearful clinging to that which once was legitimate and necessary.” One of the issues that we will have in Perspectives next year has to do with language, with God’s language. We have talked about that here. I picked up a book on my way home - a book of excellent essays. One author asked whether or not Christianity will be able to sustain itself in the future. She suggested that it may well not make it for, if it doesn’t change, it will be to society too unrelated and irrelevant to where life is really moving.” © Grand Valley State University �Somebody Has To Believe! Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Some of you tease me as though I just like to rock the boat. Well, I do. Some of you think that this is just a game. And, it sort of is, but I’ll tell you - deep down there is something else operating. It is because I believe in God. It is because I believe the Gospel. It is because I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world and that we have in our traditions the richest resources that the world so desperately needs, that I don’t want to see them just piddled away, written off as though they are irrelevant and unable to meet the pressing needs of our day in a world that is tearing itself apart - fractured and fragmented, hostile and warring. We have so much to share with the world in terms of the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God that would make people one - if only we could let go and trust God. Dear friends, somebody has to believe. Maybe it’s you. You say, “But how can I know?” And I say, “You can’t.” And you say, “On what basis do I plunge?” And I say, “Trust God. Trust God. Trust – 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 XXII Series Heroes in Clay Scripture Text Exodus 3:11, Hebrews 11:1 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-0-19921108 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-11-08 Title A name given to the resource Moses: Somebody Has To Believe! 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 8, 1992 entitled "Moses: Somebody Has To Believe!", as part of the series "Heroes in Clay", on the occasion of Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 3:11, Hebrews 11:1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Institutional Religion Interfaith Moses Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30efd72a365ac1ef2f695ed2119482b5.mp3 3d215c3b370b35f117dc19a602431d1f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/69bf57baa7f46260026bf9181618c0e1.pdf e25215b622cdfb94575ac450564b7894 PDF Text Text Living From Commitment From the sermon series: Lifelines Text: Luke 14: 27, 33 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany II, January 20, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Noone who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine…none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 27, 33 To commit is to entrust oneself to another. In the Christian Faith it is to entrust one's life to God through Jesus Christ. It is to turn over the controls of one's life to Christ, to yield to His Lordship, to recognize Him as one's sovereign, one's King. The Christian Life is a life lived out of commitment to Jesus Christ. That commitment involves the whole of life; every area of life is affected - human relationships, vocational decisions, attitudes, political and economic decisions. In the Christian understanding of things, one's spiritual commitment is not one dimension of life among others, but the primary decision of life which shapes all others. It is also the Christian understanding of human existence that yielding one's life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not to lose one's life, but rather to come into the fullest possible realization of being, of a truly, fully human existence. I begin with this message a series entitled, "Lifelines." It will be my purpose to show that the total commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ and the consequences of that commitment, or the living out of that commitment lead to life in its fullness. Commitment to Christ and the disciplines of Christian living are Lifelines. In this series we will focus on several facets of the Christian life in order to find the path to the abundant life Jesus came to bring and which He makes available to us. Before we examine some of the disciplines of life, however, let us begin with the recognition that the call of Jesus to follow Him involves us in a costly choice: He calls us to radical commitment. Radical is a word deliberately chosen. It comes © Grand Valley State University   �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 2   from radix, root. The call to follow Jesus reaches to the very root of our existence. His claim and call are uncompromising. His claim and call are serious. He would shape us from the core of our being so that the attitude and actions of our daily lives are the fruit of that one primary and fundamental commitment to be His disciple. The choice of texts presented a problem only because there are so many possibilities. The Gospels carry the theme repeated in various contexts. I point you to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 14. The paragraph beginning with verse 25 begins, Once, when great crowds were accompanying him… No one could accuse Jesus of inviting followers on false pretenses. He always laid it on the line. Obviously He was not running for election. He was not astute at winning friends and influencing people. There was nothing manipulative in His manner. He was a person consumed with God and the Kingdom of God He came to inaugurate. In the vivid language of the East, He put it this way when the crowd swelled and He feared there were many following without really understanding what was at stake. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine. …none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 25-33 The sharpness of the saying jars us and that is precisely its purpose. To hate means literally to love less and the counsel is obviously not hatred in intimate human relationships which are sacred but simply to say there is no relationship or claim upon the disciple of Jesus which takes precedence over the claim of Jesus on our lives. The renunciation of possessions was a familiar model for conversion in the world of Jesus. The gentile who converted to the God of Israel was called to such a oncefor-all act of renunciation, which entailed a break with one's social relationships. Edward Schillebeeckx, in his book, Jesus, points out that this pattern was taken over from late Judaism. Being converted meant in practice surrendering all one's possessions, becoming odious, having to leave father and mother, etc., and all one's worldly goods. The radical break with the past was called for by Jesus in light of the coming rule of God. The narrative of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus illustrates that this young man was not ready for radical conversion because he was unwilling to renounce all and give to the poor. The actual surrender of all material goods was the sign of a true conversion. As for the call to cross bearing, that was a familiar sight in the Palestine of Jesus' day. Crucifixion was the fate of the Zealots who were always plotting against the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Roman occupiers. Once again here, cross bearing was a sign of the willingness to lay down one's life and Jesus' own death on the cross became the concrete illustration of the cost of discipleship. Cross bearing was the willing assumption of the suffering involved in following Jesus and aligning oneself with the cause of the Kingdom of God. It is voluntary. It is not a burden thrust on one about which one can do nothing; it is an active assumption of the consequences of following Jesus. All of the imagery of this paragraph and the others liberally sprinkled throughout the Gospels speak of death, the dying to self. In his book, Alive in Christ, Maxie Dunnam tells of a friend, Brother Sam, a Benedictine monk who shared with him the service in which he took his solemn vows and made his life commitment to the Benedictine community and the monastic life. On that occasion he prostrated himself before the altar of the chapel in the very spot where his coffin will be set when he dies. Covered in a funeral pall, the death bell that tolls at the earthly parting of a brother sounded the solemn gongs of death. There was silence - the silence of death. The silence of the gathered community was broken by the singing of the Colossian words, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. " (Col. 3:3). After that powerful word, there was more silence as Brother Sam reflected on his solemn vow. Then the community broke into song with the words of Psalm 118, which is always a part of the Easter liturgy in the Benedictine community: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the words of the Lord. " (Psalm 118:17 King James Version). After this resurrection proclamation, the deacon shouted the works from Ephesians: "Awake, O Sleepers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Eph. 5:14). Then the bells of the Abbey rang loudly and joyfully. Brother Sam rose, the funeral pall fell off, and the robe of the Benedictine Order was placed on him. He received the kiss of peace and was welcomed into the community to live a life "hid in Christ." (p. 27F) That is a beautiful ritual, a vivid image of the call to discipleship, not just to monastic orders. Jesus calls us to life through death, the death of self, selfcontrol, self-life. That this is the call of Jesus and that His claim on our lives is absolute there can be little argument. But granting that, how do we live that out in our world in our day? What does it mean to follow Jesus today? We have just been reminded of one of our own generation who put his life on the line and paid the supreme price for his discipleship. Martin Luther King said shortly before he fell from an assassin's bullet: © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my funeral. ...I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long... Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize... Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards... I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody... Say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace. That I was a drum major for righteousness, and all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. February 4, 1968 And he did. Would anyone say he was a failure? About three years ago Archbishop Romero was likewise gunned down while saying Mass in EL Salvador. He was killed because his call to discipleship led him to take up the cause of the poor and oppressed in that troubled nation. The moving film, "Gandhi," has reminded us again recently of that great spiritual leader who changed the face of India and he too took an assassin's bullet. Around the world today many languish in prisons because they have espoused unpopular causes in situations of tyranny. Our world is no stranger to the violent death that pursues those that seek to bring justice and righteousness to bear on the concrete conditions of humankind. But what of ordinary mortals like you and me living in the safety and security of Western Michigan? What does it mean for us to live from commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord? Sometimes I fear we put discipleship out of reach when we speak of King and Gandhi and of course, Jesus, who remains the preeminent model. One hardly knows where to begin and certainly there are many more things to say than can be dealt with in the compass of this message. Yet we can say some, things. First, the call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. There are not two Gods. The God of grace Who in Jesus has touched our world is the only true God and His heart is love and His movement toward us is gracious. In the face of Jesus we have seen into the heart of God. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 5   This is the God of tender compassion Whose love will not give up on His people, Whose judgment is the other side of His love with the intention of calling His people to their senses and to return unto Him. The call to commitment is issued by Jesus Whose heart was moved with compassion because the people were restless, harassed, like sheep without a shepherd; Jesus Who said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." The call comes from one Who dealt tenderly with the weak and embraced the sinner, offering unconditional acceptance and a continuing positive regard for persons. It must be obvious then that total commitment is not the call of a despotic sadist who enjoys seeing people on the rack. A second thing that comes to mind is that the call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. Any cursory reading of the Gospels will detect a strong strain of anger in Jesus, anger directed toward the most religious groups of the day. His anger was not a disapproval of religious practice as such but against religious practice as a way of self-righteousness, selfjustification before God, religious practice that was outward conformity to structured ritual and ceremony without corresponding inwardness, religious practice that fulfilled institutional demands but was exercised apart from the more important matters of love, justice and mercy. A third observation I would make is that the call to commitment transcends institutional structures. Perhaps I can put it simply this way: Jesus calls persons to life in God, not simply to join the Church. By now you know me well enough to know that I consider the institutional form of the Church as a necessary evil. Spirit needs form and apart from the institutionalization of the Gospel in the community with creeds and rituals and forms of organization, the Gospel would not have reached us. All organized religion involves a set of rites, an ethical code and a body of doctrine. The institutional Church - just like the Judaism of Jesus' day, consists of rituals, ethics and doctrines and these structures become the vehicle by which religious reality is mediated from one generation to the next. By these institutional forms – rituals for worship, rules for conduct, articles of faith for understanding – a religious system is shaped which is the carrier, the mediator, of religious belief and practice. But when Jesus called to commitment he was calling persons to something more than institutional loyalty. In fact, it was the perception that He was a very great threat to the institution that got Him crucified. There was fear for the Law and the Temple. He dared point beyond Law and Temple to the God toward Whom both Law and Temple pointed, thus relativizing Law and Temple in the face of the absolute demand of God. Keeping the Law was not an end in itself; rather the Law was God's gift to Israel that they might find fullness of life. The Temple was not an end in itself; rather it © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 6   was the place where altar and sacrifice and Priesthood were present to mediate the presence of God to the worshiper and bring him beyond the outward forms into the gracious presence of his God. That would suggest a fourth comment: The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. Here I am not saying anything not already mentioned, but I say this explicitly lest I be understood to be cavalier about institutionalized religion. How could I be? My whole life is spent in the cause of institutional religion because I see in it the only means by which the Truth of God may be conveyed and the worship and service of God cultivated, through which God is glorified and His people led into the fullness of life. There are rare souls that seem to be able to go it alone, to find the ecstasy of mystical contemplation of God in splendid isolation, but such is not possible for many. And even those who find the vision of God in the solitude of contemplation did not learn of God in a vacuum. The institution is necessary; its forms and structures are the vehicle upon which the Truth of God is conveyed. They are the signs pointing beyond themselves to the mystery of God and apart from them the vision would soon die. The institution also provides the social structure within which we are aided in the spiritual quest. We are social beings. We do not live as isolated atoms in the Universe. We are bound together in the bundle of life. We were created for community and we need the support and encouragement of one another. Personal devotion is essential; contemplation in solitude is essential. But such cannot take the place of corporate worship when as one body we are caught up into the presence of God and lose ourselves in the wonder of worship. The purpose of religious structures then is to mediate the knowledge and experience of God. If we did not have them we would have no access to God but if, having them, we never rise beyond them, we will never experience the mystery of God. Charles Davis says it well: Religion is the drive toward transcendence, the thrust of man out of and beyond himself, out of and beyond the limited order under which he lives, in an attempt to open himself to the totality of existence and reach unlimited reality and ultimate value. This drive cannot be confined to the observance of a moral code, settling questions of right and wrong within a limited frame of reference. The person who is merely moral knows nothing of the heights and depths of human experience and existence. Even a religious system set up to mediate the drive toward transcendence cannot contain it. It never fits exactly and at its best is inadequate © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 7   precisely because it is in itself limited and relative, not transcendent and absolute. (The Temptations of Religion, p. 73) Again, David writes, For religion the relativity of any human order of truth and value indicates its mediating function. Its purpose is to become transparent, to lead beyond itself and mediate a transcendent experience. Summarizing what we have said: 1. The call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. 2. The call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. 3. The call to commitment transcends institutional structure. 4. The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. If the above statements are true, then it must be evident that the call to commitment is a serious call to find the highest possible human fulfillment in a life whose first priority is the worship and service of God. God has made us for Himself. There is a hunger in the human heart for God. The universality of religion would seem to demonstrate that. To be sure that claim has been disputed and it does seem in our day there are many who live "onedimensional" lives with no transcendent reference, no worship, no sense of mystery beyond the human and the mundane. Yet our day would also seem to witness to that hunger for transcendence. We speak of the younger generation "turning East." With the lessening of influence of the traditional Church we have seen a rise of the cults and bizarre expression of religious devotion. Ernest Becker, the noted scholar in the field of psychoanalysis finds in the human being a longing for the heroic. He sees a universal fear of death but not the fear of extinction so much as extinction without meaning. We want our lives to be significant, to mean something, to find ourselves caught up in something bigger than ourselves. Although he does not profess to be a Christian thinker, he finds great truth in Kierkegaard who found in the Gospel's call to total commitment that which lifted the person out of himself and satisfied his longing for meaning, (cf. The Denial of Death). © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 8   God calls us to Himself not that He may be enhanced in His Sovereign Rule, but because God is love and love would bestow the best and highest gift on the creature made after His own image. The truth of Jesus' words has been proven over and over throughout the centuries. To grasp on to one's life is to lose it; to lose one's life in the service of Jesus and the Gospel is to find it. Thus the call to commitment is an invitation to experience Life at its highest. It is the call of the gracious God in Jesus Christ to experience abundant life. If that is true, then it must be evident that the successful living out of one's commitment is always threatened from two directions: a. From the danger of absolutizing the institution and its form and structure; b. From the danger of abandoning the institution or giving it only slight regard. The first danger is succumbed to by the religious. Jesus' greatest foes were the highly religious: those who absolutized the established form of Jewish faith, who made idols of Temple and Law and ritual. One can see this so very prevalent in our own day with the upsurge of visibility and volubility of the religious Right. Fundamentalism has become militant in our country as illustrated by the conflict over Creationism and Evolutionism. One can see it also in the mean-spirited militancy that crusades against abortion and the rights of homosexuals. There is little civility in the debate on issues in which there can certainly be differences of opinion. In great emotional display evidencing deep-seated anger, we see people demonstrate for God and Truth as though they had some corner on the truth. What they have done is absolutize their position, which is limited and relative because it is a human perspective on divine truth, not that truth itself. One can see the danger of absolutizing the institution where people are controlled and manipulated by religious leaders. Often the implication is if you do not follow my leading or support my program, or serve in my institution, you can have no part in the Kingdom. But there is danger on the other side, as well. Too many have "progressed" to where they recognize that God and the institutional forms structured to give access to Him are not synonymous and have thus simply written off the institution and the practice of religious life. One theologian of sorts writes that he doesn't need the institution or the symbols anymore. Growing up as a Scottish Presbyterian, it was all so deeply ingrained “that he can go on without it.” Fine. But who will tell his children and provide the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 9   experience in which they might be overwhelmed with the mystery of God? Who will pass the torch of faith and maintain the community of faith for the generations yet unborn? For many years now at Christ Community I have chosen the difficult path of teaching you that our creedal statements are not the last word, our way of worship is not the only form of true worship, our grasp of the Christian life must always be open to examination. Our institutional life and structure is not absolute; our program as a congregation is not synonymous with God's perfect will. Yet I have called you to commitment to Christ and the Church and its life here, recognizing we have blinders, we are flawed, and we stand always in need of correction and further insight. What "sells" today is to reduce complex issues to simple formulas, claiming they are absolute, beating the drums, whipping up the emotions and leading a crusade. Such has not been my style nor the posture of this congregation. We have sought rather to be both Civil and Committed. Is it possible to recognize the relativity of our grasp of God's Truth and of the structures of our life and worship and yet be totally committed to God through Christ in the life and mission of the Church? I believe it is. I would hope that I might myself be "Exhibit A." I believe in what we are about here. I commit myself unreservedly to it, even though I recognize the flawed nature of all we do and are. This is the kind of commitment to which I call you. Spirit needs form. Faith needs structure. The Gospel of Christ will be perpetuated from one generation to another only if we maintain the community of faith, flawed though its every expression is, relative though its grasp of Truth may be, partial though its obedience always is. The cause of the Kingdom of God is carried on in the world by people like us for whom God is a priority, who, having found Him gracious, find the fullest experience of being human in the worship and service of His Name. We have striven never to come off as laying on you heavy duty and obligation. Rather, we have sought to lead you into the joy of losing yourself in the service of God. The Gospel paradox is true - greedily grasp your life to yourself and lose it; give your life away for Jesus' sake and find it. You don't have to do anything. God loves you anyway. But in failing to find yourself, your gifts and energies in the employ of God, you lose out on the deepest joy of being human. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page10   God's claim on you is absolute; Jesus' call to commitment is total, because God being the fountain of love would give Himself to you as you offer yourself to Him in response to His redeeming grace. Thus I set before you the key lifeline: Commitment. Living from commitment is to live fully, richly, deeply. It is the abundant life. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany I Series LifeLines Scripture Text Luke 14: 27, 33 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19850120 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-20 Title A name given to the resource Living from Commitment Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 20, 1985 entitled "Living from Commitment", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 14: 27, 33. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Epiphany Followers of Jesus Institutional Religion Nature of Religion Spiritual Quest Transcendence Worship