1
12
4
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2b64e91eafef94e8463a4f10944444ce.pdf
bf110f6281861fdeea3180724759a9ef
PDF Text
Text
World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Independence Day Weekend
Text: Psalm 33: 10-11; Revelation 15:3
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 5, 1981
Transcription of the spoken sermon
I have not lived on Lake Michigan long enough to grew accustomed to sunsets and I hope I never do. No matter how urgent the task at hand, Nancy and I stop
and watch the setting of the sun every evening that we are home. It is a very
special time - a time to savor the beauty and wonder of the created order; a time
to stand in awe of the beauty of our Father's world. But in the year we have been
there, I have learned that there are evenings when one can predict a beautiful
sunset - when the day has been clear and there is no sign of a cloud in the western
sky and the sun sinks toward the horizon with all of its golden radiance streaming
forth without a filtering cloud. Such a sight is beautiful - the end of a perfect day.
However, there is another kind of evening completely unpredictable as it moves
toward the moment of sunset. Perhaps a storm has just passed through or a front
is gathering in the West. Huge cloud formations in constantly changing
configurations play across the sky with the sun breaking through a crevice here,
gilding a foreboding looking cloud there. The interplay of sun and clouds is
dramatic, fascinating. Sometimes in those few moments as the sun slips silently
into the sea, a cloud covers it all and there is no sunset to be seen. But at other
times the clouds break, and across the water pours a path of melted gold and all
the lowering clouds are touched by the varying hues such that no artist could do
them justice. That is a sunset!
This is a parable of world history and, in microcosm, a parable of our personal
lives, as well. My theme on this Independence Day weekend is that the Eternal
God, the Sovereign of the Nations, works His purposes out in the midst of world
convulsion, and His movement in History can be detected by the eye of faith. If
we live by the vision of faith we can see the effecting of God's purposes in world
convulsion.
The dictionary defines the word "convulsion" as, "the action of wrenching or
condition of being wrenched... violent social, political or physical disturbance...to
shake violently, to agitate or disturb," and convulsion is a fit word to describe our
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
world. It is a world in ferment -so much more than 205 years ago when those
shots were fired that were heard 'round the world. As a matter of fact, those shots
were not heard 'round the world. Much rather, what was happening was a
rebellion in a British colony, the implication of which could hardly be foreseen at
that time. The world went on its plodding way then, but at that time one could
hardly speak of world convulsion. What happened then has had far reaching consequences. We have had now 205 years of national existence - an experiment in
freedom - a nation shaped and formed deliberately to create the greatest possible
freedom for its people.
That freedom has brought unprecedented blessing and prosperity and we cannot
treasure it too highly nor guard it too carefully. That freedom is a precious gift
which is constantly in peril from within and from without. After 205 years we
who enjoy it are still a small minority of people, for the vast multitude of
humankind live under totalitarian regimes, live regimented lives, live in grinding
poverty, despair and hopelessness.
What is the proper celebration of our national independence? Where have we
come in these two centuries? Where do we stand today and what ought to be the
posture of the Church over against our world in ferment? Are we threatened by
world convulsion? Should we use our mighty power in the world to repress the
cry for human freedom or ought we to be working to break the stalemate of terror
that characterizes our world today?
God works His purposes out in history. He, the Sovereign of History, effects His
purposes in the midst of world convulsion and world convulsion is pregnant with
new possibilities for the realization of God's intention that all people and nations
should live a fully human existence in peace and well-being.
It is not always a simple matter to detect the invisible hand of God in the midst of
the uproar and dust of history's unrest, but biblical faith has always been
characterized by a confidence that God makes the wrath of men to praise him and
that out of the chaos created by the pride of nations and the lust for power and
glory, God affects His purposes of love. And so, this morning, on this
Independence Day weekend, I want us to think about world convulsion as the
opportunity for the working out of the Divine Purpose and understand that world
convulsion in terms of the exciting perspective of our faith in the God of History.
The commitment that was made and the risk that was involved two hundred
years ago, which has proved to be so meaningful in the lives of us all, that
commitment which has issued in this great nation with our experience of liberty
and freedom, a nation deliberately designed to enhance human freedom – that
commitment must be made again. And it needs to be made again not only for
ourselves, but for all peoples. For it seems to me appropriate on this, our
Independence Day weekend, that we make another declaration and a new
declaration, this time not a declaration of independence, but of interdependence
with all the people of the earth. For if there were no higher motivation driving us
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
on than self-interest, then we could say, in all honesty, in the self-interest of this
nation and its people it is incumbent upon us to recognize that in this world
which has grown so small - grapefruit size - it is impossible for us to pursue
narrow, nationalistic purposes. Rather, we must become citizens of the world and
embrace within our purview all people and nations. And to the extent that we are
true to our own principles and honest with our own past, we must lend our power
and our resources to every movement of human freedom, being sensitive to every
cry for human liberation and the deliverance from bondage, wherever we find it.
If we would be true to our past, we must be as committed to the freedom and
liberty of all peoples as we have been to our own.
I do not have a program, a one, two, three-step approach that you can go out of
here with. Rather it is my intention to seek to raise your consciousness of the
issue that is before us - the necessity of our nation to be committed to the
freedom and the liberty of nations all over. Because, you see, we have moved to
the other side of the issue. We are now in the position of the crown of England
200 years ago. We now are in the preeminent position. It is now in our selfinterest, if we are shortsighted, to maintain the status quo. We live in a world that
is teetering on the brink of disaster with a balance of terror between the East and
the West. We live in a world that is on the threshold of blowing itself up and
destroying itself, and we are the persons of power. We are the persons of
resource. We now pull the strings. We, now, have the ability to impact the world,
either for peace or for destruction, and if we hear the word of God, then we will
not be fearful of world convulsion, but we will see it as the opportunity to nudge
and move the world toward a more humane society worldwide.
The shot that was heard ‘round the world 200 years ago wasn't really heard
around the world. This was a backwoods part of the world - who ever heard of
America, and who knew what was here and what possibilities there might be? I
am sure that Europe looked down its nose at this backwoods operation. The
American Revolution was really just a pimple on the surface at the time - who
would know what would issue from those apparently parochial events? But such
is not the case today because events of far less significance impact us. Through
the instant news coverage of the mass media incidents half a world away send
their reverberating shocks around the globe. We are bound together in a bundle
of life today like never before, and it is high time that we in the United States of
America and in the Christian Church in America recognize our worldwide
responsibility and recognize that it is not enough to pursue our own national
interests and our national purposes. Even intelligent self-interest demands that
we take the world into our view.
The American Revolution eventuated in this great nation, and we can say that the
commitment to liberty and freedom at that time has been vindicated. The
experiment of that time and these past two centuries has not been an accident of
history, for our founding fathers recognized that liberty and human dignity must
be grounded in the Eternal God and our founding documents witness to that fact.
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
But if we would be true to that heritage, then we must recognize that that which
we will for ourselves we must will for all peoples. And it is incumbent upon us to
recognize our world responsibility, and to declare our interdependence.
That isn't popular. As a matter of fact, it goes against the grain. It is much easier
to exploit the fears of people and it is much easier to beat the drums and whip up
a nationalistic feeling and a fervent patriotism. Throughout the history of
mankind there have been those who have set up straw men and scapegoats and
we see it happening on our evening news in Iran today where the Islamic
revolutionary fires need to be fed constantly by hatred of America, justified or
unjustified. History has always been filled with demagogues who would
manipulate people for their own purpose and we see a narrow nationalism
espoused by the very vocal religious Right in our day. But it is up to you and to
me who are Christians as well as Americans to recognize that history is His Story,
and that He embraces all people and has good will and purposes of love for all of
humankind. Therefore, it is not enough for us to make a kneejerk, nationalistic
and patriotic reaction to events in the world, but rather to take a step back and
recognize our responsibility to be the instruments of God for the furthering of
peace and the enhancement of the human condition everywhere, on both sides of
the curtain, in the East and the West, in the North and the South, in the First
World and the Second World, the Third and the Fourth, in developed nations and
in developing nations - to recognize in our small world, that has shrunk to such
miniscule size, that whatever happens anywhere in this world will impact our life
and our existence as well.
Whenever one gets into this area, one is in the area not of black and white, but of
many shades of gray. The international situation is so highly complex that there
is really only one thing we know for sure, and that is that those who have easy,
simple solutions do not understand. Beware of the simplistic solution to
problems whose complexity we can hardly probe.
However, we cannot be silent until we have all the facts in. And so, in the midst of
our struggle to determine the posture of America in this world of ours, in the
20th century, we recognize the inadequacy of our understanding and the
complexity of the problem. Yet, act we must.
For example, let us take the instance of El Salvador, which I have mentioned
before here. How ought we to react as a nation? Bishop Romero was murdered
there a little over a year ago. He was the Archbishop of San Salvador and in his
high, ecclesiastical office he had identified with the situation of the poor. In
identifying with the case of the poor, there are those who would write him off by
simply saying he fomented the unrest among the peasants. Well, I imagine that
he did that. As a Christian who knows that God will not have people live in
grinding poverty and futility, standing with the poor in a country that has been
characterized by repression and oppression, what is a Christian leader to do? He
wrote to President Carter back in 1980 and in that letter he said,
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
It disturbs me deeply that the U.S. government is leaning toward an arms
race in sending military equipment and advisors to "train three
Salvadorian battalions in logistics, communications, and intelligence." In
the event that this news is accurate, your government, instead of favoring
greater peace and justice in El Salvador, will undoubtedly aggravate the
repression and injustice against the organized people who have been
struggling because of their fundamental respect for human rights.
(…from an address by Prof. Jose Jorge Siman, Former President,
Commission of Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese, Catholic Church of El
Salvador, given from the pulpit of Riverside Church, New York City, on
Peace Sabbath, April 26, 1981.)
Nonetheless, our government did not heed the Archbishop. We did send aid and
military advisors. And this present administration has done the same. Choosing
El Salvador in their early days in office as the point at which they would draw the
line, they blew it all out of proportion, and then tried to dampen it down again.
Obviously, that little nation was to be a testing ground - those poor people, those
suffering peasants, the playground of the major ideologies of the day.
In April, on Peace Sabbath, Bill Coffin had in his Riverside pulpit a professor
from El Salvador who spoke about the situation and pleaded with American
Christians to send human aid, not weapons. And following his comments, Coffin
said,
... If it is true that Communism has never come to a nation that took care
of its poor, its aged, its youth, its sick, and its handicapped, then why can't
we say to the Junta in San Salvador, "We'll help you take care of your poor,
your aged, your youth, your sick, and your handicapped, but we will not
help you find a military solution to what is not a military problem?"
In Nicaragua, where Catholic priests are in the ruling cabinet, where
Jesuits manage the nationwide literacy campaign and are nominated for
the Nobel Peace Prize by more than one hundred members of the British
Parliament, why shouldn't we help the Sandinistas in the same way we
helped Somoza for forty years without blinking an eyelash?...
In Cuba, why shouldn't we lift the blockade of twenty years, and instead of
sending Marines to Guantanamo Bay, let businessmen wade ashore in
Havana? That's what Castro wants, that's the way to counteract Soviet
influence, and that's the way to practice peace. The cure is caring, not
killing; serving people, not power. Caring for others is the practice of
peace.... Peace does not come through strength; strength comes through
peace.
The Psalmist in the lesson we read this morning said the Lord brings the plans of
nations to nothing. He frustrates the counsels of the peoples. But the Lord's own
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
plans stand forever. And then the Psalmist went on to say what this world has
never learned - and our nation does not understand, as well.
A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his
great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great
might it cannot save. Psalm 33: 16, 17 (RSV)
The world teeters on the brink of disaster, and what have we to say? I don't like
radicals. I get sick and tired of radicals. I wish they would go away. I get tired of
the media putting them before us all the time. One such radical is Daniel
Berrigan, the Catholic priest who has been in and out of jail the last decade and a
half. Most recently he and a few others went into the G.E. plant in King of
Prussia, Pennsylvania, which produces equipment for nuclear missiles. They
destroyed what they could before they were arrested. They were just tried and
convicted. In an interview, Daniel Berrigan had some things to say which, in spite
of the fact that I don't like radicals, spoke to me. He said...
The Jesuit order accepted me as a member. The Catholic Church ordained
me as a priest. I took all that with great seriousness. I still do, with all my
heart. And then Vietnam came along, and then the nukes came along. And
I had to continue to ask myself at prayer, with my friends, with my family,
with all kinds of people, with my own soul, "Do you have anything to say
today?" I mean, beyond a lot of prattling religious talk.
Do you have anything to say about life today, about the lives of people
today? Do you have a word, a word of hope to offer, a Christian word?
That's a very important question for anyone who takes being a priest,
being a Christian, being a human being seriously, "Do you have anything
to offer human life today?" Sojourners, June 1981, p. 23.
Well, do you have anything to say today? Do I have anything to say today? The
last issue of TIME magazine has a two-page essay on “The Bomb.” It says, in
effect, since Hiroshima in 1945 the world has refused to look at the bomb. We
have refused to look at the seriousness of the bomb. And we continue with
nuclear proliferation and arming ourselves to the teeth with more warheads than
would be necessary to blow up the entire globe, and still the song goes on. Israel
makes a preemptive strike on the reactor in Iraq and justifies its action as
necessary for its own safety and the safety of the world. In the wake of that, an
Arab spokesman said, "We need the bomb!" In a world where six countries have
the bomb, probably two more, and by the end of the 80's the possibility of 40
nations having the bomb, what has the Church to say? TIME magazine deals with
it; I suppose we ought to, too.
The war horse is a vain hope for victory…
If the Psalmist were writing today he might say an antiballistic missile, or a
nuclear submarine is a vain hope.
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
A king is not saved by his great army. … The Lord brings the counsel of
the nations to naught; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel
of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has
chosen as his heritage!
What do we do? Well, we don't make knee jerk reactions to every announcement
from the White House or the State Department that would rile up our patriotic
blood and make us feel like good guys over against the bad guys. We realize that
we are in this bundle of life, bound up with all nations and people, and it is not a
case of black and white or good and evil, of one side or the other. It is high time
that we are true to the principles on which we were founded and that we seek to
aid and abet every movement for human freedom and liberation anywhere in the
world; that we pray for peace and begin to take steps and action, concrete action,
that will further peace; that we come face to face with the horrible reality, the
insanity of a world that lives under the shadow of nuclear armaments and that we
recognize that our welfare rests with the welfare of the whole human family.
A Declaration of Independence 200 years ago – in the providence of God,
a magnificent move toward the enhancement of the human condition.
1981, high time for a Declaration of Interdependence for a world that
would be made safe for children and for the generations yet unborn.
Trust in arms? “The war horse is a vain hope for victory.” When will we learn it?
As I was thinking about all these things this morning, I did what I always do on
Sunday mornings, in the stillness, when the family is trying to sleep. I put on
Bach's Mass in B Minor - a powerful piece. It begins with the Kyrie, "Lord, have
mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us." And then
it moves into that great, strong, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace
among men," then it moves on through the affirmation of faith, the Nicene Creed,
and eventuates in the great chorus of Alleluia and praise with the closing cry,
"Grant us Thy peace." And as I heard that stirring music, the music itself
communicating as much as the words, and I thought about the world in
convulsion, I thought to myself - the world in convulsion seems to be so real, so
close, so tangible, and the Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on Earth among
men of good will seems to be so remote, and yet the music, the music convinced
me that that is the Ultimate Truth, and in a world in convulsion we will not
despair or give up in hopelessness, paralyzed by fear because we believe that, in
the midst of world convulsion, God is working His purposes out. The exciting
vision of faith keeps us going and we know that history is not an accident going to
happen, but rather throughout all of its chaos is woven that meaningful thread of
the purposes of God that will culminate with that great cry, "The Lord God
Omnipotent reigns!" But He does not work in a vacuum, rather through His
people who, like those 200 years ago, are willing to die for a heavenly cause and
sacrifice life itself if need be that there might be peace on earth. Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Richard A. Rhem
© Grand Valley State University
Page 8
�
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.
Scripture Text
Psalm 33:1-5, 10-22, Revelation 15:1-4
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-0-19810705
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1981-07-05
Title
A name given to the resource
World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 5, 1981 entitled "World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 33:1-5, 10-22, Revelation 15:1-4.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Divine Intention
Faith
Freedom
Global Community
Interdependence
Liberation
Peace
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d327033b00fdaf9745d431ab19df687.pdf
72f678974b884815864dd65a4367ab41
PDF Text
Text
“I Thirst”
From the series: The Seven Last Words From the Cross
Text: John 19:28
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Lent V, March 20, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the
scripture), "I thirst." John 19:28
"I thirst," the fifth word from the cross, is as the fourth word is, a word of
suffering. Certainly it is an expression of physical suffering, and we're told by
some who have experienced it that there is perhaps no greater physical anguish
than to suffer thirst. But the word from John, we have learned, is always layered.
Certainly John would point to the terrible physical torment of Jesus. But we’ve
come to know from John that the word is never there at its purely literal or
simplistic level. John always has something more symbolic to say. Note for a
moment, if you would, the contrast of John's lens with the lenses of Mark and
Matthew and Luke. That's been the special angle of vision we've been trying to
sort out in this Lenten series: to use the words of the cross as lenses through
which the respective Evangelists understood the meaning of the depth of Jesus.
These Evangelists, as we have said, were not journalists working for the
Jerusalem Times. They weren't court reporters getting down every word. They
were portrait painters. They were novelist, theologians. They were giving us an
interpretation of what was happening. And I think we get an insight into their
understanding of what was happening by the words they put into the mouth of
Jesus as he's dying – in this case, the word "I thirst."
Note for a moment, the contrasting pictures that we get from John as opposed to
the other three. Don't hear me saying that one is right and the other is wrong.
Hear me saying that they're different because they are being viewed through a
different lens. These are interpretations. For example, last week, we spoke of the
word from Mark and Matthew, "My God, My God, Why hath thou abandoned
me?" In Mark (which we believe to be the earliest of the four gospels) and in
Matthew, this is Jesus' only word. It is a picture of the utter spiritual dereliction
and abandonment of Jesus at the time of his crucifixion. Not so in John. In
John's gospel, the dying Jesus is in charge as he has been in charge throughout
the whole portrait that John paints of Jesus. You remember in the tenth chapter
© Grand Valley State University
�“I Thirst.”
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
of John, the Good Shepherd passage, Jesus says no one takes my life from me; I
lay it down. Jesus is active in the discharge of his ministry, of his mission. John's
Jesus is a Jesus who is in control of the circumstances. And when he says, "I
thirst," Jesus is triggering something more than simply expressing his physical
anguish. Now the Jesus that John tells us about, again in contrast to the
synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is a Jesus who when he comes to the crunch
(spoken of by John as "the hour") says, "now is the hour and what shall I say,
Father remove this from me? No for this hour came I forth. Father, glorify your
name." And in the Garden of Gethsemane there is no prayer as in Matthew, Mark,
and Luke, "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me." Rather, in John
there is simply the arrest in the garden. Peter draws his sword, hacks off an ear of
one of those who have come to arrest Jesus, and Jesus reproves him. Jesus says,
"The cup that the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?"
Do you feel the difference? To the other gospel writers the picture is of a Jesus
who is still struggling against the inevitability. John's picture is of one who says,
"Father glorify your name, the hour is here. Let's go through with it. Give me the
cup. I must drink the cup." What cup? The cup of suffering, the cup
representative of God's will for Jesus’ life following faithfully through all the way.
That cup. But cup? That's interesting, isn't it, to speak of it as a cup. There's a cup
there. Where does that cup come from? Well, it comes from the Old Testament
feast of Passover, doesn't it? John's Jesus is the Passover lamb. Not for Matthew,
Mark, and Luke. The timing of the crucifixion in John is different from the other
three. The other three have Jesus celebrating the Passover with his disciples on
the night before he was betrayed. John has a different chronology. For John,
Jesus is crucified at the very hour when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered
at the temple because for John Jesus does not eat the Passover. Jesus is the
Passover.
What was the Passover? The people of Israel are slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh is
abusing and oppressing them, the sons and daughters of Jacob. God calls Moses
and says, "Take my people out of there." So Moses goes to the Pharaoh and the
Pharaoh says, "No Way, José." God says, "O.K. we'll start a little action." The
plagues. Do you remember the ten plagues? Do you remember what the tenth one
was? The first born of every household would be slain by the Angel of Death.
What would the Angel of Death do? The Angel of Death would pass over the
houses of the people of Israel. That's where we get the name Passover. The Angel
of Death passing over. Well, how did the Angel of Death know if it was an
Egyptian or an Israelite household? The Israelites were prepared by Moses, who
got the word from God.
What were they to do? They were to get ready to go, ready to move out, and they
were to have a final feast. The central element of the feast was to be a lamb, a
lamb roasted whole, no bones broken. And with a branch of hyssop they were to
sprinkle the blood of this lamb on their doorposts, so that when the Angel passed
over the Israelites, their first-born would be spared. Every year after that, Israel
© Grand Valley State University
�“I Thirst.”
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
kept Passover, which was a feast, a celebration. What were they celebrating? Sins
forgiven? No, liberation. Freedom. The exodus was perhaps the first great
freedom flight in history, and Moses was that revolutionary leader that led God's
people out of the house of bondage into freedom and toward the Promised Land.
Every year when Israel celebrated the pass-over, there were several cups of wine.
And after the final cup of wine, the feast was over.
Now John has Jesus on the cross saying, "I'm thirsty." Is John telling us simply
that Jesus was thirsty? That Jesus was suffering terrible physical anguish? Yes,
but in this important document in which John is talking about eternal life, do you
suppose in that account John would stop simply to have Jesus say, "I'm thirsty"
to note a physical thirst? Might there be something more going on? Do you note
in the text that we read how Jesus got his thirst quenched? Vinegar. The other
gospels say wine. Whatever it was, how did he receive it? On a hyssop. Hyssop,
the same sort of hyssop that the Israelites used to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on
their doorposts. Do you think it possible that John was making all of those
associations so that we might see that his intention was to present Jesus at this
point as symbolic of the Lamb of Liberation? The Jesus who is always in control
in John's gospel, who says, "No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my
own free will. I do it for my love for the sheep" et cetera, et cetera. This Jesus
now, becoming aware that it was all finished, says, "I thirst." I think John was
showing us a Jesus in control, who knew now that the work was done. The hour
had gone. The hour was there. He had been lifted up. God was being glorified. He
said, "I am thirsty," which was another way of saying, "Give me the cup. I am
ready to drink it now. I am ready to drain it. I am ready to drain it to the final
dregs."
Now I suspect that every time you have ever heard this word preached on over
the years the concentration has been on the physical suffering of Jesus. I want to
suggest to you that the physical suffering of Jesus is real. And Jesus as a human
being really suffered and that's not unimportant. That's why the creed says,
"suffered under Pontius Pilot, was dead and buried."
Because one of the greatest challenges to the central understanding of the early
church about Jesus and what Jesus did, one of the greatest challenges was the
heresy of Gnosticism. Gnosticism believed that matter was evil, and that God
could never become entangled with matter. And so the Gnostic denied
incarnation, that God could be identified with human flesh, that the word was
made flesh. Gnosticism said Jesus walked on the beach but left no footprints. The
Gnostic said Jesus' spirit had already left him when he was put on the cross
because God could not be identified with that kind of suffering, that kind of
material human flesh.
The early church said "no" to that. This was a man. This man really suffered so
the physical suffering is not to be devalued. Some Latin American Catholics, this
time of year, parade a crucifix through town, and the pilgrims actually flagellate
© Grand Valley State University
�“I Thirst.”
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
themselves and draw blood in order to identify with the physical sufferings of
Jesus. It works for some who have been raised in that, for whom that conveys real
meaning. But I want to suggest that probably, at further review, it's spiritually,
emotionally, and psychologically unhealthy. In Protestantism we have our own
ways of flagellation. We don't carry the crucifix, but we sing awful hymns. They
are full of our vileness, our unworthiness, and of Jesus' awful suffering.
I suspect, however, that if you read through the Lenten hymns, the text of the
Lenten hymns, which are so familiar that we don't even think about them, in all
honesty you would have to say, "no." "No, It doesn't really bring tears to my eyes.
I only say that in a song." The physical suffering is not to be devalued but the
physical suffering is not to be exaggerated either because that misses the point of
what was happening in the death of Jesus.
I do not believe that the death of Jesus was a religious event. I do not believe the
death of Jesus was something that happened between Jesus and God for the
salvation of the world. More and more, I am believing that the death of Jesus was
a political event. The death of Jesus was the consequence of the way he lived,
because the way he lived was a threat to the institutionalized religious hierarchy
and the structure of his society.
Jesus sought the liberation of people. Jesus sought to break all forms of human
bondage. That's what John is telling us when he makes Jesus the Passover lamb.
Jesus was doing for the whole world what Moses did for Israel. Jesus was doing
for the whole world what happened when the slaves were set free from the house
of bondage in Pharaoh's Egypt. John understood the death of Jesus as a
liberating act, as the culmination of a life that had called people to human dignity
and to human rights and to freedom.
Jesus' life was not, first of all, a religious life, the life of some aesthetic or some
monk. Jesus, in the name of God and in communion with God, with a vision that
he felt he received from God and a call and a claim upon his life by God, sought to
liberate people, sought to bring dignity to people, sought to include the excluded
ones. He sought to touch the lepers, to break down the barriers and all of the
exclusivism that ruled people out. And because he did that, they killed him. Jesus
was the Passover lamb.
And now he said, "I'm thirsty" in order to trigger the final cup and to empty it,
and to complete his work, his work of human liberation. He knew it was now
over. He had done what he could do and now it was in God's hands. That's the
real nature of Jesus' suffering. The physical suffering should not be devalued but
the focus on the physical suffering, and to try to identify oneself with a poor
broken Jesus, is to privatize it, to individualize it, to spiritualize it, and to fail to
realize that Jesus lived radically in this world.
Jesus lived in order to change the world. Jesus lived in order to set people free
from political bondage and from religious structures that bind, and from every
© Grand Valley State University
�“I Thirst.”
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
form that devalued and dehumanized the person. It was a political act, and it
happened in the world.
The best example I know in the twentieth century was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. About
once a year I get this book out. This book cannot be replaced. It's sacred to me. As
you know, it kept me alive in Europe: Letters and Papers from Prison.
Bonhoeffer joined a group that conspired to assassinate Hitler and was
imprisoned when the plot failed. And, as you know, on April 8, 1945 he was hung.
Bonhoeffer tells in these Letters about how he talked with a French pastor whose
goal was to be a saint. And Bonhoeffer said, "I respected him even though I
disagreed with him." But he said, "I myself thought that I could acquire faith by
trying to live a holy life," in other words, the whole religious thing. He says, "It
was at that period in my ministry that I wrote The Cost of Discipleship". And he
said, "I still stand by that book, but I would make some changes now.” Now he
has sat in prison. Now he has seen the world explode. Now he has faced the awful
hellish demon of Nazism, and he says, "I am discovering up to this very moment
that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One
must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself. Whether it be a saint,
or a converted sinner, or a churchman, a righteous or unrighteous one. This is
what I mean by worldliness. Taking life in one's stride and all its duties and
problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is such a
life," he says, "in which we throw ourselves into the arms of God and participate
in the sufferings of the world." Here he was in prison for a political act because of
his religious conviction and he says, "I don't want to be religious. I want to be
worldly in the sense of participating in the world, in the things that God is about,
in the causes of human liberation." Then he says, "Then I join the sufferings in
this world, and I watch with Christ in Gethsemane."
To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to cultivate
some particular form of asceticism, but to be a person, a human being. It is not
some religious act, which makes the Christian what he or she is, but participation
in the sufferings of God, in the life of this world. That was tough business. That
was tough business for Bonhoeffer. For him to be a follower of Jesus was to join a
political conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. See, it had nothing to do with the
sanctuary or the altar. It had to do with the life of this world. It had to do with
what goes on in Washington and Beijing and the power centers of the world. It's
not easy.
Bonhoeffer wrote lines that are the most moving that I know of because I suppose
they speak to me, in the poem "Who Am I?" And he tells about how others say,
"My goodness, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, you are so full of joy, so full of power, of
hope, you are such a strong man, and they clung to him in prison. But he says,
"To myself, Oh, I am weak, full of fear, and trembling. Who am I, this or the
other? Am I one person today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once, a
hypocrite before others and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
© Grand Valley State University
�“I Thirst.”
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions. Whoever I am, Oh God, thou
knowest I am thine."
I think that is a modern story of what Jesus was about. He suffered but he might
have said, “The physical anguish of thirst was nothing compared with the
torment within my soul. I believed God called me. Did God call me? Did I get it
right? Why me? Who am I? Who am I to turn over institutions and traditions?
Who am I? Have I got it right?” It's not easy to stick with one's conviction and to
live by one's vision. It's much easier to fold up one's tent and fade off into the
sunset.
Sometimes I wonder about some of you who stick with the church. Why do you
do it? Sometimes I wonder about myself. There certainly would be more peaceful
ways to live one's life. Why care? Why make an issue? Why stick to one's guns?
Bonhoeffer refers to Luther, who was called to account because of the oppression
of the church and he said, "Here I stand, I can do no other." Can do no other, yet
you could have done other, Martin Luther. You could have said, "Forget it." You
could have said, "Oh, have it your way." But somehow or other he couldn't. He
had to say, "Here I stand. I can do no other."
Jesus certainly knew what he was about. Jesus undercut all of the sacred, solid,
secure ways by which the power leaders of society controlled the masses and
maintained their position. Like the article in the New York Times said, referring
to the lobbyists against Clinton's health care plan: The Gold Diggers Are Lining
Up In Washington. They're also jockeying for positions so that when it finally
comes down they will be in a position to cash in. That's what the world's about. It
is about power. It is about greed. It is about oppression and abuse and the
dehumanizing of people and the using of people for personal prerogatives. And
every once in a while there is a Bonhoeffer or a Mother Teresa or a Martin Luther
King. And they get killed, just like Jesus got killed.
Now Jesus said, "I'm thirsty." John said Jesus said, "I'm thirsty." What John is
really signaling to us is that Jesus was saying, "Give me the cup. Give me the cup.
I'll swallow it to the last drop because I know it's over, but, by God, I've lived my
truth."
If you really are serious about identifying with Jesus' suffering, I'll tell you what
you do. Don't go off in a closet with a hymnbook and read those awful hymns and
weep a while. Hear this word of Jesus: "If you would be my disciple, take up your
cross, and follow me." I've got to warn you it could prove very painful, but the end
thereof is joy inexpressible. What, greater possession could you possibly have
than your soul intact?
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5d42e849a065d675dda53497ab8718d7.mp3
73550d0fdf9f539e5ca7c6ee59d4de7b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Lent V
Series
The Seven Last Words of Christ
Scripture Text
John 19:28
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-0-19940320
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-03-20
Title
A name given to the resource
I Thirst
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 20, 1994 entitled "I Thirst", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 19:28.
Inclusive
Lent
Liberation
Passover
Way of Jesus
-
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
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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.
Covenant of Grace
Hebrew Scriptures
History of Israel
Justice
Liberation
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9884fed57d10a2d2cdd3d81bb4c64745.pdf
0a13e1061f5df9798816819d2b65c765
PDF Text
Text
Going Home
From the Advent Series on “Home”
Text: Isaiah 40:1, 11; I Thessalonians 4:17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent III, December 11, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
I have chosen the texts and the themes for this season in the light of the course
that we have followed through the fall in surveying the Biblical story of Israel.
We left Israel in exile in Babylon, and I did that purposely because I knew Advent
was coming. It’s a marvelous time to pick up the prophetic promises and themes
that were addressed to that people in exile. Israel, Judah, in exile was in despair
and in the midst of their despair where they were weeping on the banks of the
rivers of Babylon, where they could not sing the Lord’s song, in the midst of that
despair they received a surprising word of hope. The prophet Jeremiah sent them
a letter in which he said to them, in effect, get on with your life and know that the
Presence of God is not a matter of geography, but the location of God’s Presence
is the heart. “And if with all your heart you truly seek me, you will surely find
me,” find the Presence of God even in that situation of exile.
Now, after some decades in which indeed they had settled in, there was another
word from another prophet. We don’t know who he was, but his work is in Isaiah
40 to 55. This prophet’s word broke the silence and pierced the despair of this
people who had given up on the covenant of grace and the promises of God, this
people who had finally considered Babylon to be their home, this people who had
really forgotten Jerusalem even though they had vowed never to do so. This
prophet arose and spoke these words, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. You
are going home.” This prophet who was a part of that exilic community observed
the shifting of the balance of power on the international scene. This was
characteristic of Hebrew prophets, for you will remember that it was Habakkuk
who saw in the rise of Babylon the instrument through which judgment on
Judah, God’s own people, would be brought. Now this prophet sees in the rise of
another world power an instrument, not of judgment, but of grace, an instrument
of liberation.
Indeed, if we would go over just a few more chapters, to the 45th chapter, this is
how God addresses the king of Persia, whose name is Cyrus. “Thus says the Lord
to his anointed,” to Cyrus. Anointed. God’s anointed. God’s messiah. This king.
© Grand Valley State University
�Going Home
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
“Thus says the Lord to his anointed,” to Cyrus, “whose right hand I have grasped
to subdue nations before him.” Why will God anoint a Cyrus in Persia in order to
subdue nations? Well, the fourth verse says, “For the sake of my servant Jacob
and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you though you do not
know me.” You see, it was the conviction of the prophets in Israel’s tradition that
God was a major player on the scene of history. It was the conviction of these
prophets that the decisions were not made in smoke-filled cloakrooms, but rather
that God was the invisible player, a major player of the dreams of history.
So now we have a prophet bringing comfort, announcing liberation, saying to
Judah, “You’re going to go home.” He didn’t immediately respond to the
message. As a matter of fact, he resisted the message. He heard a voice that said,
“Cry,” or as Martin Luther has translated it perhaps more effectively, he heard a
voice that said, “Preach.”
And he said, “Preach, why should I preach? The grass withers. The flower fades.
Why should I preach?”
The word comes back, “Preach. For it is true the grass withers and the flower
fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
So this prophet in the dialogue heard the call and was confirmed in his conviction
that the word of God after all was a liberating, saving word, and he announced
that word in the midst of his people in exile. He said to them in effect, “Be
comforted. You are forgiven. You are going home. Announce to the cities of
Judah, behold your God.”
They went home. They went home and the prophet’s word was confirmed. But it
never lived up to the glorious image that he had set. They went home, a remnant.
Oh, there was another temple, but it lacked the glory of the former temple. They
rebuilt the walls, but that community was nothing more than a worshiping,
waiting community in poverty and often in sorry straits. Yet, they went home.
The prophet believed that God would bring God’s people home. His vision, his
dream was a dream of a fulfillment and the consummation of the whole historical
drama that would issue in that messianic kingdom, that kingdom of shalom
where lion and lamb would lie down together, and where they would not hurt in
all God’s holy mountain. It was a prophetic conviction that God is a major player
in history. Do you believe that?
For some nineteen hundred years the Jews in dispersion after 70 AD celebrated
their Passover wherever they were and in the liturgy there were the words, “Next
year in Jerusalem.” Rabbi David Hartman of Jerusalem says that, after nineteen
hundred years, today they celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. Do you think that
that has anything to do with God’s involvement in the drama of history? Did
Habakkuk see behind Babylon’s rise the judgment of God? Did the prophet of this
morning’s lessons see, behind the rise of Cyrus, God’s engagement? I suppose we
© Grand Valley State University
�Going Home
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
could talk about that all day and not solve it, but that really is not the question of
this Advent Sunday.
The question that I would rather focus you on is this. Is it possible within history
to be at home? Is it possible in the midst of our human experience, in the stream
of history, is it possible to be home? Maybe Israel’s best gift to the world is the
possibility of being home in history. If you read the Hebrew Scriptures there’s not
much about anything beyond. There’s not anything about heaven. There’s not any
discussion of life after death. Maybe Israel’s best gift to the world was the call to
celebrate here and now. Israel delights in life—celebrates life. I think that it has a
real gift to give us in calling us not to miss this life, to enjoy God in the land of the
living. The Christian emphasis, in contrast, that has put the focus on heaven, that
has been somewhat other worldly, has often removed from us the valuing of this
life, and not enabled us to celebrate this life, I think, as perhaps God the creator
of all would have us celebrate it. Israel celebrates God in this present life. History
within history. Yet, I wonder if it’s enough?
Bertrand Russell the English philosopher and avowed atheist writes this, “Brief
and powerless is man’s life. On him and all his race the slow, sure doom sinks
pitiless and dark, blind to good and evil. Omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless
way, for man condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass
through the gates of darkness. It remains only to cherish ere yet the blow falls the
lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day.” Sounds almost like the pessimism of
the prophet who said, “All flesh is grass. The grass withers, the flower fades.”
Bertrand Russell says, I may lose the love of my life unless for me the bell tolls
first. That being the reality of our human situation, is it enough? Can one be
home within history?
It wasn’t enough for the people in Thessalonica. Paul had gone there preaching
the Gospel. He preached a crucified, risen, ascended, reigning, coming Lord. And
he preached it with such urgency and he pointed to the imminence of that return
with such power that the people in Thessalonica began to expect that any
moment the heavens would open and the clouds would be illumined and the Lord
of Glory would appear. Then someone lost the love of her life. Then someone
received the death sentence and they began to wonder, if I should die before the
clouds sparkle with the appearing Lord, will I miss out on it all? Paul wrote to
them to say, “No. We who are alive at the coming of the Lord won’t have an
advantage over those who have died. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, so those who fall asleep in Jesus, God will bring with him. So I write these
things to you that you sorrow not as those who have no hope. I write these things
to you; comfort one another with these words.” Paul’s pastoral concern for this
people was to assure them that the entrance of death before the advent of the end
did not mean that one would miss the party. He went on to describe the scenario
of the end. Archangels, trumpets, clouds. And it didn’t happen.
© Grand Valley State University
�Going Home
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
The messianic kingdom hasn’t come either. As I observe our history in our day it
doesn’t seem that we are any closer to seeing the lion and the lamb lying down
together than when the prophet dreamed the dream. And when I read Paul’s
dramatic presentation of the end event and realize that it’s two thousand years
later, frankly, I’m not going to hold my breath. Interesting, isn’t it, that both the
prophet and the apostle had this intuitive sense of some kind of completion? But
the images in which they set it forth, the symbols with which they presented it,
the pictures that they painted in both cases—they haven’t come to be. They may
still, and yet I wonder if perhaps the prophet’s dream and the apostle’s vision are
not rather pictures of an intuitive conviction and truth that within history no one
can finally be home. Oh, to be sure, the prophet’s dream had the culmination
within history. The apostle, who was nurtured on that dream, had a vision of a
culmination beyond history’s end. But, never mind. Both of them had to believe.
In the case of the Hebrew prophet, the end could not be the chaos of history, but
rather its resolution. And in the case of the apostle, the end could not be a gaping
grave, but a meeting with God the Lord, the presence of God’s people with God
everlastingly. Both the prophet and the apostle were simply wrong in the portrait
that they drew or painted. So what? How would you have drawn it? They were
stumbling, stammering humans trying to give some expression to something that
was deep within them, that the end could not be history’s chaos nor the cold and
open grave, but rather that there was yet something, something more.
You see it seems to me that both the prophet and the apostle had that deep sense
that yes. . . yes, the grass withers and the flower fades, yes . . . human life ends
with history still in chaos and those who have loved experiencing loss, but there
must be something more. I think both the prophet and the apostle, and I think
probably you and I as well, know that God has made us such that we will always,
always break down those end points. We will not be satisfied. There is something
insatiable within the human mind and within the human heart. Within the
human being there’s something that will not be satisfied until finally there is an
expansiveness that we have not yet dreamed of. There is something in us that
says there are places I have not yet gone, there are words I have not spoken, there
are loves I have not yet expressed. There is not the possibility in the brief span of
this historical existence to satisfy all of that that is within me. I’ll never, never,
never rest with the contingency of history’s whirlpool. I will believe, I will hope
that beyond somewhere, someway, sometime all of this that is in me that yearns
for expression, for expansiveness, for eternity will be satisfied. Probably not with
lions and lambs lying down together. Probably not as the issue of some flaming
deity from heaven.
But there must be something more. For down deep within us, when surrounded
with the blackness of the darkest night, Oh how lonely death can be. At the end of
this long tunnel there shines a light where death is swallowed up in victory. Can
you imagine stepping on shore and finding it heaven? Of touching a hand and
finding it God’s? Of breathing new air and finding it celestial? Of waking up in
glory and finding you’re home . . . finally home?
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f5dd3e967c8f36104f7ce83aa4a2cc68.mp3
4be04070436fd41993994f6c0dc26761
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 40:1, 11, I Thessalonians 4:17
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-0-19941211
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-12-11
Title
A name given to the resource
Going Home
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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 11, 1994 entitled "Going Home", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 40:1, 11, I Thessalonians 4:17.
Advent
Grace
Hope
Liberation
Prophetic Voice
Shalom