1
12
2
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6c9d7442b0329a1599ff0235ca04423.pdf
90d977968c1498f6521b610cfaa0cb70
PDF Text
Text
The Vision Must Not Die
An Article
Reviewing the Vision of Arie R. Brouwer
As Shown in His Writings
by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
Perspectives
A Journal of Reformed Thought
March 1994, pp. 11-13
On October 7,1993, the Rev. Dr. Arie R. Brouwer died after a ten-month struggle
against cancer. His death was noted in the New York Times, recognizing the
worldwide dimensions of his ministry. A brief memorial piece appeared in this
journal in the December 1993 issue. With his passing the church has lost a
significant leader, one of the most significant leaders in the last half of the
century. This is true for his own denomination and true as well for the world
church as it has come together in the ecumenical movement. Arie has died but
the vision by which he lived must not die, a vision for “the unity and renewal of
the Christian community as sign, instrument, and foretaste of the unity and
renewal of the community of humankind and the whole creation.”
Ours was a long-time friendship going back to college days. Our paths continued
to cross though we journeyed in divergent directions, he holding the top
executive posts in the Reformed Church in America and the ecumenical councils;
I remaining essentially in one congregation. But over the last four years of his life
we were able to spend meaningful time together and be in frequent communication. In a most remarkable way, from divergent paths, we discovered to our
mutual delight that we shared a common faith, understanding, and vision for the
church. I know of no one who worked more faithfully and consistently to
implement that vision than Arie Brouwer. I know of no one who articulated it
with greater clarity or passion.
As tribute to him, out of my profound respect for the ministry he carried out, I
want to lift up some aspects of his vision. The aspects I have selected reflect the
areas about which we reflected together and about which he has written. While
making no claim to present the full spectrum of his vision and passion, I am
certain what follows is faithful to that vision and passion at its heart.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
That the Church Be One
Arie’s commitment to the ecumenical movement was unwavering to the end.
Even following his resignation from the office of General Secretary of the
National Council of Churches of Christ he remained convinced that the only way
into the future for the church lay in a movement toward unity. In an article that
appeared in The Christian Century (Feb. 23, 1990) he raised the question Can the
mainline find new life on the ecumenical way? He answered with a strong
affirmative.
He was well aware of the obstacles to a truly ecumenical Christian church.
Indeed, he had faced them head-on, daring to confront entrenched power and
vested interest that obstructed the way to renewal. In chapter 9 of his journal,
dated June 11,1993, he entitled the entry “Unfinished Business—My Ecumenical
Vocation.” He referred to some correspondence he had received that gave him
occasion to speak positively of his own opportunity to use his positions of
influence. He felt fortunate to be able to use that influence in order to empower
the institutions he administered to serve their respective constituencies for the
well being of the human community. He expressed the hope that “somewhere
beyond the far horizon” there are church leaders in formation who will have “the
will, wit and wisdom” to lead the church to the realization of the ecumenical
vision.
He recognized the present survival posture of the mainline denominations.
Simply taking measures to survive, their leaders are distracted from the
ecumenical vision, and the resources available to the councils are drained away.
It is now widely recognized that the respective mainline denominations are in
very serious trouble, their future in the present configuration in doubt. He wrote
an appendix to that journal entry, cited above, which he entitled “A Few Notes on
Ecumenical Immobility.” There he pointed to the fact that the ecumenical
councils of churches, the main instruments of the ecumenical movement, are now
almost completely captive to the churches. In The Christian Century, June 27July 4, 1990, Arie documented the resistance to restructuring he had encountered, listing the ecclesiological claims of the churches, the institutional interests
of the denominations, economic control, and ideological alignments within the
churches and the Council itself. Writing with the intimate knowledge of an
insider, he contended:
With the churches in control, it follows that most of the leading
participants in most council meetings are either ecclesiastical bureaucrats
or hierarchs, who are mostly prisoners of their positions. Real movement
toward unity would render most of their present positions redundant. ...
Very few bureaucrats, church bureaucrats included, are willing to put their
positions at risk—even in the face of open violation of truth or justice,
much less for the sake of a vision only dimly perceived. (Journal, 47)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Confronted by such a sobering realization, Arie yet remained hopeful; his vision
did not waver. If the present institutional framework of the Councils offered no
possibility of renewal, then another way must be found. That was part of his
greatness. He recognized the historical imprisonment of church structures. He
worked with a certain freedom as a church executive, freedom from the numbing
paralysis that immobilizes lesser leaders who expend their energy shoring up
outworn structures. In an article published in The Christian Century, he
indicated that he was aware already a decade earlier that the dwindling away of
national denominational program bureaucracies was inevitable and the trend
irreversible. Not happy about it, he nevertheless neither went on the defensive
nor threw up his hands in despair. Rather he plunged into the leadership of the
conciliar movement with great energy and hope. The future he felt would lie in
ecumenical relationship—the churches needed more than a new way of acting;
they needed a new way of thinking, a new self-understanding. “Only thus,” he
contended, “can they be set free from cultural captivity, ecclesiastical
enchantment, institutional survivalism, traditional confessionalism and other
‘isms’ that bind them.”
Arie gave this effort his best wisdom and strength of leadership but finally
concluded renewal could not come as long as the present framework of the
councils remained in place. Still he would not give up the vision; he sought yet
another way. In the last months of his life he served as interim pastor of the Glen
Rock Community Church in New Jersey. His excitement about returning to the
parish, to preparation of liturgy and preaching was evident. Here he saw the
arena for renewal for the whole church “from below.”
The Ecumenical Congregation
In his journal he spoke of his vision for an ecumenical congregation. He noted the
number of congregations that have represented in their membership a plurality
of diverse traditions and saw these concrete communities as an “interesting
ecumenical opportunity.”
If the diverse traditions could be consciously articulated in congregational
life ... their particular contribution to the fullness of the Gospel (the
tradition) recognized and affirmed and then integrated in a recognizable
way into the life and worship, particularly the worship, of the
congregation, then I believe we would create, yes create, congregations
with a sturdiness and attractiveness that would give them a burst of new
life, perhaps even ending the mainline malaise. (42)
His focus turned to the local congregation, not as withdrawal from the
ecumenical enterprise, but as the instrument through which to bring renewal to
the whole church. He became convinced that the way forward in the ecumenical
movement was to be found in a movement from below. He cites the example of
the base communities of Latin America but sees it as a mistake simply to adopt
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
that strategy. Rather, he contends, “we must create the forms for such
movements from below appropriate to our own culture” (43).
For the United States, he was convinced, the model was ecumenical
congregations. He speaks of his first efforts at creating such a congregation,
efforts cut short by his cancer. But his passion for the vision is evident as he
writes,
From such ecumenical congregations could, I believe, eventually grow a
National Christian Council that could gradually transform the
anachronistic and divisive denominational structures that are now stifling
the ecumenical movement. Deprived of their determinative divisiveness,
the denominations could serve a function in such a council much like that
of the orders within the Roman Catholic Church. (43)
In his recognition of the congregation as the instrument through which renewal
would come to the whole church, Arie clung to his ecumenical vision but
demonstrated again, as he had throughout his various executive leadership roles,
his ability to let go of anachronistic structures and trust the Spirit to create new
wineskins—and new wine. In his last work in a parish he was realizing a deep
longing, “the longing to rearticulate my faith—not in an academic work of
theology, but in song and sermon and liturgy—in precisely such an ecumenical
congregation.”
A Spirit-Seeking Tradition
As he was gathering his writings and speeches from the decade of his ecumenical
leadership, he found three themes recurring—elements of renewal that he stated
thus in a speech he delivered at that time:
A life-celebrating liturgy (worship and faith),
A community-building structure (order and life and work),
A Spirit-seeking tradition (theology, doctrine and dogma).
When he was forced to lay down his work in the spring of 1993 he was deeply
engaged in the first element, creating a life-celebrating liturgy. Much of his
vocational life was given over to creating community-building structures, but that
I must leave to others to record. Here let me lift up that third element of renewal
—a Spirit-seeking tradition.
Arie’s theological pilgrimage brought him to an ever-greater appreciation of the
Spirit as the source of the living tradition of the church. His ecumenical
encounter with orthodoxy impacted Arie deeply. In a lecture entitled “On Being
Reformed in the Ecumenical Movement,” he quoted the Greek Orthodox
theologian Georges Florovsky who claimed that
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
loyalty to tradition means not only concord with the past, but in a certain
sense freedom from the past.... Tradition is the constant abiding of the
Spirit, and not only the memory of words. Tradition is a charismatic, not
an historical principle. (Bible, Church, Tradition, vol. 1, 80.)
Arie admits that following the Spirit is a risky journey, a risk Reformed
scholasticism did its best to reduce. He writes,
The scholastics defended the deposit of the tradition but did not sustain
the dynamic of the tradition. They stressed the testament of the Spirit, but
neglected the testimony of the Spirit. They followed past confessions but
did not lead in present confessing; they preserved the Reformed faith but
did not pursue reforming the faith. (Ecumenical Testimony, 310f.)
The tradition congealed, he points out, at the Great Synod of Dort (1618-1619),
and immediately thereafter the Dutch delegates, meeting in a separate session,
“froze the tradition solid,” declaring that the creeds were “in all things
conformable to the Word of God.” The die was cast – ongoing theological inquiry
was ruled out of bounds from that time forward.
Arie describes the disastrous affect this absolutizing of an historically conditioned
credal formulation has had on the church. It will not do, he claims, simply to chip
away at the frozen forms. Rather,
If we want the tradition to flow freely and clearly as the water of life for a
thirsty world, we will need to thaw it out. (311)
The lecture, delivered at Western Theological Seminary, was printed in this
journal (October 1990) and three persons were invited to respond to it, one a
Christian Reformed pastor-theologian. Dr. Clarence Boomsma, for whom Arie
had profound respect. Boomsma was very affirming of the lecture but claimed
that the place and authority of the Bible needed to be firmly established and,
further, he maintained that the role of Scripture was “muted and unclear” in the
discussion of both our Reformed tradition and the ecumenical movement. In response to that critique, Arie wrote that the place and role of Scripture was indeed
a difference between them.
I have long struggled with what I have come to think of as the fundamental
irony of the Reformed tradition: While insisting that the Word of God
written has been given to us by the Spirit, we have often made the Spirit
captive to that Word. And this in the face of the Scripture’s own clear
testimony that the Spirit cannot be bound. We can transcend the irony if
we affirm that even as the Canons of Dort cannot bind the Word of God, so
the canons of Scripture cannot bind the Spirit of God — The church is
reformed by the Spirit of God and according to the Word of God.
(Perspectives, Oct. 1990, 13.)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
For Arie, the sense of the Spirit as the source of the living tradition of the church
was a growing edge. In Ecumenical Testimony he published an article that had
appeared in The Reformed Journal in the mid-seventies under the title, “Worship
in the Reformed Church in America.” He retitled it “A Life-Embracing Liturgy,”
and in his introductory comments noted that if he were to write the article in 1991
he would write one key paragraph differently.
I would not say, “The Word of God renews the Church,” but rather the
Spirit of God. According to the Word, to be sure, but in the power of the
Spirit, who is “The Lord and Giver of Life.” Already then I mostly thought
that, but apparently not yet firmly enough to challenge the safety devices
of Reformed scholasticism that have so long subjected the Spirit to the
Word—especially the Word written. That subjugation I believe to be the
major impediment to the renewal of the tradition. (Ecumenical
Testimony, 226)
In the end it was the renewal of the whole church for which Arie longed, and it
was his conviction that the Reformed community was strategically positioned to
spearhead such renewal through openness to the Spirit. Precisely because we
have understood ourselves at our best as a reform movement in the one Church
of Christ—not as something separate and apart—we are committed at the core of
our being to a church: one, holy, catholic and apostolic.
Our calling to reform the tradition then can be accomplished only by
engaging the whole tradition of the whole church in its mission to the
whole world. (Ecumenical Testimony, 313L)
The Vision Must Not Die
In the Foreword to Ecumenical Testimony, which Arie invited me to write, I
expressed my profound respect and admiration for the leadership he had given to
the church, noting that his solid rootedness in his own particular tradition
combined with the breadth of exposure he experienced in the world church
resulted in a clear-eyed view of the promise and peril of tradition. Deep
formation in his Dutch Calvinist pietism and mysticism combined with an
historical sense and the dynamism of the Spirit to create newness made him a
rare visionary leader. Only God’s Spirit, “The Lord and giver of life,” can renew
the church. That, Arie Brouwer knew well. Yet his sturdy Calvinist spirit
understood that not as a passive acquiescence to the inexorable drift of historical
trends and circumstances from which he could not escape. Trusting the Spirit,
Arie acted, led, sought the will of God. Of God’s will he wrote,
We seek it; we search it out with a passion. As we discover the will of God,
we strive to do the will of God in order that in our doing what we know, we
may learn what we do not know. (Ecumenical Testimony, 317)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Vision Must Not Die
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
To lose such a leader is a very great loss. Arie was my friend. I miss him. But my
grief is greater when I think of what the church and world have lost. However, he
has left us a legacy of writings and sermons in which the vision shines forth. His
life was fruitful, indeed, but if we would return to his words and open ourselves to
the Spirit that animated his vision, his life may prove even more fruitful in his
death. He would not be the first for whom that is true.
Arie has died; the vision must not die.
References:
Arie R. Brouwer. Ecumenical Testimony (Historical Series of the Reformed
Church in America). Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991.
Arie R. Brouwer. Overcoming the Threat of Death: A Journal of One Christian’s
Encounter With Cancer. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
References
Arie R. Brouwer, Ecumenical Testimony, 1991, Overcoming the Threat of Death, 1994
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
RA-4-19940301
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-03-01
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
The Vision Must Not Die
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 1, 1994 entitled "The Vision Must Not Die", it appeared in Perspectives, pp. 11-13. Tags: Ecumenical, Church, Diversity, Liturgy, Spirit, Reformed Tradition, Nature of Scripture. Scripture references: Arie R. Brouwer, Ecumenical Testimony, 1991, Overcoming the Threat of Death, 1994.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Church
Diversity
Ecumenical
Liturgy
Nature of Scripture
Reformed Tradition
Spirit
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30db5f5527bdf39d8c4e7c5abd7b969d.mp3
f7a34b77f95ef5abee11133a048ff316
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0dbd9535eb61558d01e66b856fbef738.pdf
51edce6bc5c270f126da16f207518762
PDF Text
Text
God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails
From the series: Credo
A Celebration of the Music of the Church and Thirty Years of John G. Bryson
As Director of Music and Fine Arts
Isaiah 6:1; Revelation 1:17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Trinity Sunday, June 10, 2001
Transcription of the spoken sermon
It was a number of months ago that I chose this Sunday on which to celebrate the
life and the ministry of John Gregory Bryson and to share together in community
the finale of his tenure with us. I did it intentionally because this, on the church
calendar, is Trinity Sunday, and we have gone 'round the cycle once again,
moving from Advent through Christmas to Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter,
Eastertide, Ascension, Pentecost, and then this Lord's Day which is celebrated in
the larger Church as Trinity Sunday, a Sunday in which we celebrate that God
who is the deep Mystery, the Guide and Ground, the Source of all that is, from
which all flows, that Mystery that is God revealed to us in the incarnation of the
Word in the face of Jesus Christ, present to us and with us and in us in the Holy
Spirit - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - one God blessed
forever. That is the theme and the focus of this day, Trinity Sunday.
It is a proper day in which to focus on the worship of the Church, and this
community, the life that we have shared together for over a quarter of a century,
almost three decades, as a worshiping community in word, in sacrament, in
music and artistic expression, worshiping that deep Mystery of our lives revealed
to us in Jesus, present to us in the Spirit. I chose Trinity Sunday because our
Director of Music and Fine Arts, whose final appearance in that position is today,
has been drunk with God from a child. God has been the passion of his life.
It was my privilege some years ago to visit his boyhood home. He wasn't there
and so his mother let me in on all the secrets. She took me from the basement to
the attic, and in the basement there, undisturbed, like the room of a deceased
mate in which nothing is touched, there was still the little pulpit and the dossal
cloth and the school desks that were the pews, and the little organ. Some children
play ball. Some children play school, but Greg played church. And, fortunately, he
found playmates that would sit obediently in the pews as he led worship. Now,
you see, I tell you the truth - he has been intoxicated with God and God has been
the passion of his life from the very early years, and thus it is Trinity Sunday in
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
which our worship, moving through the drama of redemption as we have it in its
historic story and the scriptures, comes to its culmination, this God who is the
one whom we worship and acknowledge as the Source and the Ground, the Guide
and the Goal of all that is.
Greg's passion for God, coupled with natural endowments of artistic giftedness,
found expression in artistic expression. It is the aesthetic dimension of life in
which that passion finds its fascination and its beautiful expression. Thus,
throughout all of his life, he has been drawn to worship very naturally, because of
who he is, because of the giftedness with which he was graced, because of that
passion that could find expression only in the worship of that ultimate mystery,
indeed, the eternal God.
In the early years when Greg was with me, I didn't fully appreciate that aesthetic
dimension which is so critical for worship that elevates the soul and the spirit. I,
too, was a child warped from the womb. I just about matched him in oddness, for
as a child I would bring a little notebook to church and I would note in that small
notebook the text of the sermon and the three points, for in my childhood
experience, the sermon always had three points. I think it's probably an
adolescent rebellion that I am always certain that my sermons have no point at
all. But, I would come home and at Sunday dinner, to the great pleasure of my
father, would recite the text and the three points, my three older sisters, never
being able to match me at that point. But, you see, as a child it was likewise, an
intoxication with God, for me, not in aesthetic expression but, rather, in rational
understanding. I shudder to think of the times that, even as an adolescent, I
wrestled with questions of predestination and free will, reading the facts and
mysteries of the Christian Faith by one of the fine theologians of our tradition,
always trying to understand, always trying to figure it out, for I was steeped in
that Reformed tradition of Dutch pietism which sought always rationally to
explicate the faith. Mine was an intellectual quest, even as a child, a quest for
understanding. And that which was sought so diligently was the literal and
absolute truth.
And then there was a moment in my experience when a light went on. I was at a
seminar at McCormick Seminary in Chicago in the mid-70s and it was a seminar
at this Presbyterian school on the Apostles' Creed, and they invited a Lutheran
theologian, a great old scholar, Joseph Sittler, and in his address on one of the
aspects of the creed, he made a statement as an aside, but for me, it was not an
aside, it became luminous, flooding my whole being with light, for he said, "You
know, you Presbyterians, you always come at it through the head, whereas the
Catholic tradition comes at it through pageantry, through color, through touch
and smell, through all of the fabric of that rich worship experience of the Catholic
tradition." In that moment I knew that I had been on one track, it was the track I
learned from the Heidelberg catechism. There is a question and answer in that
catechism which says, "Why will not God have God's people taught by pictures
and images?" And the answer is, "Because God will have God's people taught by
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
the lively preaching of the word." And that had been my whole tradition. That
had been my whole experience. There had been none of the aesthetic, none of the
artistic. It had been a word-centered, rationally, intellectually delivered
systematic presentation of the faith, whereas, as Sittler spoke of the richness of
the Catholic mass, entering a cathedral, a Catholic church is like entering a warm
womb, and suddenly I saw that there was no need to choose between the lively
preaching or the richness of the pageantry, the symbolic artistic expression of the
faith, and it was from that moment on that I began consciously working
intentionally with Mr. Bryson in the creation of a tapestry of worship that used all
of the artistic expression available while not discounting the articulation of faith
in preaching. That's been the story of over a quarter of a century of worship at
Christ Community.
But, I had to learn that my intellectual quest was not enough. I had to learn the
statement which I quote as the title of this meditation from a German theologian,
Rudolf Otto, who says in another throwaway line, "The feeling that remains
where the concept fails." The feeling that remains where the concept fails. So
much of my earlier experience was in terms of concepts, seeking to bring
understanding, rational understanding, seeking intellectually to grapple with
God, and I had to come to understand that God will not be intellectually
managed. It is impossible to come to the fullness of the experience of the mystery
of the sacred and the holy in rational categories. Finally the concept fails. Finally
one hits a brick wall. Finally one hits the ceiling. There is nothing more to say.
There is nothing more to think. But, when the concept fails, there is a feeling,
there is a sense. It is the sense of a presence. It is the experience of the sacred. It
is the recognition of a mystery that transcends us and undergirds us,
overshadows us and calls us to awe and to wonder. The feeling that remains
where the concept fails.
In the pulpit ministry and in my preaching, I can bring you only to a certain
threshold and then it has been our gift over all these many years to have another
God-intoxicated, passionate minister who has been able to lift us and to elevate
us into the very presence of the Holy. Not to downgrade in any regard that
intellectual quest, only to recognize its limits and to recognize, as well, that it is in
the community of worship that the concept fails and the feeling comes to us in
that numinous awareness of the otherness of God. The mystery of God manifest
in the face of Jesus, present to us and within us in the breathing, the wind, the
spirit of God - it is that tapestry of articulation woven into the fabric of aesthetic
appreciation, artistic expression that has brought us, week after week, into the
experience of the Holy so that, leaving, the concept fades, but the feeling remains
and we know we have been in the presence of God, to do so in community, in
community where we come together to be reminded of who we are.
Friday evening the choir and pastors gathered with the Bryson family for a toast
and a roast, and the Parlour was beautiful and we had a wonderful evening and I
was so deeply moved at the memories of all these many years, and I realized
© Grand Valley State University
�The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
again the gift it is to be part of community, to have those long, deep bonding
relationships, to belong to a family, to a community that is bound together in
those ultimate commitments that have been melded into one, in-depth
experiences of exhilaration and ecstasy, the community where we celebrate life
and we have done it again so recently with so many tears. Mother's Day, a
grandmother, fighting cancer, seeing her granddaughters kneel here affirming
their faith. Confirmation, young people kneeling here with pastors' and parents'
hands upon them, launching them into their life journey. Baccalaureate with the
graduates receiving a rose and knowing that they have here a place, a home,
always, again being launched into the grand adventure of life. Moments to
remember. Moments that move us deeply so that when the concept fails, the
feeling remains.
You see, the concept is not unimportant, but it is so very limited. Someone gave
me a statement the other day, "All of our religions are but the ossified remains of
former prophetic and ecstatic visions." That is true, for our religions, in all of
their structures and all of their systems, are but human constructions which are
stammering attempts to give expression to that ultimate Mystery that will always
defy the concept, but a Mystery present to us as we gather so that as we disperse,
a feeling remains and we know we have been in the presence of God. So, we
gather as a community to remember who we are and whose we are, to celebrate
our common life together and to be challenged to go out into this world to
humanize it in the name of the God whose mystery was revealed to us in the
humanness of Jesus.
Ah, dear friends, we have been a gifted people, richly blessed, blessed in that the
concept in all of its limitedness has been lifted beyond the intellectual
appropriation to the existential experience, and there has been no one so
responsible for that as my partner and my dear friend, your Director of Music
and Fine Arts, John Gregory Bryson. To him, thank you. And to God be the glory.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II
Series
Credo
Scripture Text
Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17
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-0-20010610
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2001-06-10
Title
A name given to the resource
God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails
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 June 10, 2001 entitled "God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails", as part of the series "Credo", on the occasion of Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17.
Experience of the sacred
Liturgy
Trinity Sunday