1
12
1
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c2ca9837b191da69babad739c9c7c800.mp3
393f9ce183515fa351fd87153a1b9979
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a02df693385ba1e0c0f5939d1fd7bc39.pdf
eb56a4fd13e695990fb86c0cb70c4f30
PDF Text
Text
Life After Life?
Text Psalm 16:11; I Thessalonians 4:17
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent II, December 6, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
In your presence there is fullness of joy... Psalm 16:11
...and so we will be with the Lord forever... I Thessalonians 4:17
The Season of Advent is a season in which we celebrate in the Church the One
who came, the One who comes and the One who will come. Advent, the word
itself, means to approach or a visitation. And Israel was that people who all of
their history looked for one who would come, that one who would come, who
would be anointed with the Spirit of God. “The one who would be anointed” - the
Hebrew word was Messiah - the anointed one. The Messiah was the one who
Israel hoped, prayed for and longed for in order that God’s will might be done on
earth as in heaven. The anointed one, the Messiah, the longed-for one was
predicted every time a priest was anointed with oil or a king was enthroned,
anointed again with oil. For the oil, the sign of the Spirit, was a sign of God’s
empowering of the Spirit, and every priest and every king was a sign pointing to
that one who one day would come supremely, full of the Spirit of God and would
bring justice and peace and Shalom.
The Christian church believes that that one indeed did come, and that one was
Jesus of Nazareth. Sometimes we speak of Jesus Christ as though it was a first
and last name. But that is not correct. Christ is a title. Jesus of Nazareth was
believed in the Church to be the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, the one
longed for by Israel, the one who would bring the will of God into effect on earth.
In the Christian church the expectation that this Jesus of Nazareth was the one
grew in various ways among his disciples and his followers, and then they were
despairing for they said, “We thought that this might be the one. But a crucified
Messiah? No way.” But then he was raised from the dead and he appeared to
them, and then they rejoiced. Then they began to see that the fulfillment of God’s
plan and purpose came in a way quite other than they had expected. In a new
© Grand Valley State University
�Life After Life
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
way. In a surprising way. But they believed that Jesus, crucified, resurrected, and
in the presence of God, was their reigning Lord whom they expected imminently.
In fact, I read from the book of Acts this morning because it reflects one of the
very earliest conceptions of these events that would mark the end. Peter, in
having presented Jesus as the one who was crucified and raised by God, says to
those who were listening, “Repent.” That is, “Change your mind. Turn around.
Repent and understand that this one whom you crucified is God’s servant, indeed
the Messiah.” He says, “Repent. Turn to God that your sins might be wiped out.
So that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that
he may send the Messiah appointed for you. That is, Jesus.” Now when you think
about that for a moment it is rather interesting. “Repent that the seasons of
refreshing may come, that he may send the Messiah.” Well, didn’t they believe
that Jesus was the Messiah who had already come? Yes, but in those early days
when everything was fuzzy, they were saying Jesus was the Messiah but he was in
the presence of God now and it was as though heaven were keeping him until you
repent and turn, and the seasons of refreshing come and there is a universal
restoration; then God will send the Messiah appointed to you, that is, Jesus. Now
that conception of things did not prevail in the New Testament church, but it was
one of the earliest understandings. Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah, in heaven for a
while, soon to return. The expectation of the return of this one was obviously very
vivid and the return was to be imminent.
At the conclusion of the revelation given to John, the revelation of the ascended
Lord – at the conclusion of the Book of Revelation, in the 22nd chapter, we have
these words of the ascended Lord who gives the vision to John. He says, “Behold I
am coming soon.” Now, how soon is soon? What do you think? Soon. He says,
“Here at the tail end of the first century, I am coming soon.” What do we give
him? Six months? Or would you give him a year? Ah, somebody over here says, “I
would give him two years.” How soon is soon? What do you think? How about
two thousand years? That’s not soon. That’s not soon according to any kind of
soon I’ve ever understood. But yet for two thousand years there have been
preachers taking this text and saying, “Go outside and watch the sky because it
may be today.” If we had more time this morning I would sing for you a chorus
“Jesus is Coming Again.” I’m really tempted to do it, (Laughing) but I won’t do it.
Jesus is coming again, and you can flip your dial anywhere you want to on the
radio today and you’ll hear preachers all over the country saying, “Repent
because Jesus is coming, and it may be today.” How long can you hold your
breath? How far can you stretch this thing out and still talk about Jesus coming
soon?
Do you think he is coming? Do you think he is coming soon? I don’t think you do.
In all honesty I don’t think you do. I think after two thousand years anybody that
expects Jesus to appear soon on earth and establish a kingdom is simply going
along with a traditional conception of things that has a strong hold on the
Christian Church, but I don’t think we really believe it. And that raises a question
© Grand Valley State University
�Life After Life
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
to me as to whether or not the New Testament Church understood about Jesus,
and the summing up of all things might have been true but it was cast in a form
that really cannot carry the freight for us today two thousand years later.
The way that I have come to understand this and have found most helpful in
trying to translate all of that imagery of the Second Coming and the end events –
and the rapture, or is it the rupture? The Second Coming, the great white throne,
the final judgment, heaven and hell and all of that, the end events - the way that I
have come to translate that for myself is in the same way that I have come to
translate the opening chapters of Genesis. Somehow or other in the beginning we
have been able to deal with the symbolic presentation of profound truth, moving
away from the literal understanding, but over at this end we have never been able
to get off the literalization of those images and understand them symbolically.
But if we are over here in the beginning, you don’t really think there was a garden
called Eden do you? You don’t really think there was a Mr. Adam and a Mrs. Eve?
A snake? A tree? An apple? Well, with Adam and Eve, of course, there was pear.
(Laughter) They say of Eve that she was a peach. (Laughter) But not an apple
with a worm. Not a snake, a talking snake. (Laughter) No. But what it says is so
true. It was Israel’s understanding of what was going on in their own present
existence. And what they said essentially was, “Everything that is is because God
said let there be.” And God said, “Let there be,” and God said, “It’s very good.”
And then they said, “If it’s very good, how come it’s so bad? How come everything
is so rotten?” And they said, “Not God’s fault - our fault because we who were
created to worship and adore and serve, usurped God’s place in proud rebellion,
in self assertion wanting to be God. We made hell on earth.” That’s what those
chapters tell us. And what they tell us is profoundly true and touches our own
existential experience of the human situation where we are drawn to heaven and
mired on earth and caught in the tension of worshiping and rebelling, wanting to
be God and yet wanting to be God’s. And in those symbolic representations of
garden and tree and snake and apple and all of that, the most profound truth of
the cosmos, of God, and of the human situation comes to expression. Somehow
or other a long time since, I’ve been able to negotiate that and come to a deeper
understanding of biblical truth.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Advent II
Scripture Text
Psalm 16:11, 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-0-19921206
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1992-12-06
Title
A name given to the resource
Life After Life?
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 6, 1992 entitled "Life After Life?", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 16:11, I Thessalonians 4:17.
Anointed One
Eschatology
Jesus
Messiah
Nature of Scriptures