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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c1990c845257229d4da37c8167227525.pdf
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A Non-Election Year Election Sermon
Jeremiah 7:1-7,11; Luke 19:41-46
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 9, 2003
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Let me say a word about the strange title of this sermon, "A Non-Election Year
Election Sermon." It is a non-election year, but it's not really a non-election year
because we did have elections, but we didn't have elections on the national or
state issues or candidates, and so my point of saying it is a non-election year is it
is a time without the intensity of feeling or concern about particular issues. At
such a time, when there are not pressing issues upon us where there is likely to be
polarization and strong feelings, it is the best time to look at how we deal with
those kinds of social, political, national, world issues that confront us as a people.
So, I call it an election sermon, not necessarily a good name for what I am trying
to talk about, but what I mean is a sermon that would be preached in the light of
a democratic people casting their votes and making up their minds on issues and
candidates on the basis of some sense of awareness of the spiritual dimension of
the issues or the candidates that are being placed before us.
I got the idea from a great English preacher, Henry Perry Liddon, who was a 19th
century intelligent, scholarly, conservative, evangelical Anglican preacher who
held the pulpit of great St. Paul's in London. When I was in seminary, we studied
some of the great preachers and Liddon was one of the models, and I began then
to buy used volumes of Liddon's sermons from England, accumulating a shelf full
of them. I would go back to those sermons many, many times, and occasionally I
would read a particular sermon of his, the title of which I can't remember. I could
remember if I could have gone to my shelf and picked up the book and found it,
but I sold the book last summer. Dumb thing to do. There was no need to do it
and it was the first time I'd sold some books and I'm sorry.
Liddon would annually preach a sermon in great St. Paul's that would address the
issues, the critical issues that were facing the English people. He did this very
responsibly, very scholarly, in a marvelous manner. I suppose that it was the
Church of England's counterpart to the Queen's annual address to Parliament.
Maybe it was something like, in our situation, the President's State of the Union
Address. It was a sermon that addressed the nation and those critical issues that
were before it. Of course, this was simply because in England the Church is
established. The Queen appoints the Archbishop of Canterbury, and so there is
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the union of Church and State still in England to this day. But, what was going on
there was that the Church had a voice addressing critical issues of a social
political nature, like the Hebrew prophets.
Israel began as a theocracy. God was the sovereign. But, there came a point,
remember, when Samuel was the leader and the people came and said, "We want
a king so we'll be like other nations," and he said, "You'll be sorry." They said,
"Nonetheless." So, a king was appointed and Israel became a monarchy.
However, the prophetic office arose along with the monarchy and those who
study these things tell us that Israel was saved from the autocratic rule of despots
that marked their neighbors by that prophetic office that always reminded the
king that he was the king by the good pleasure of God who alone was sovereign.
The king was anointed by the priest with oil, the sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign
that he was a servant of God, he was not autonomous.
Once again, this was natural because there were not separate state and religious
establishments in Israel. It was all one and the temple was the center of that. The
text we read this morning is Jeremiah's famous Temple Sermon, in which he
stands on the steps of the temple as the people are coming to worship and says,
"Don't say, 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord.'" In other words, don't find your security in the fact that there is a temple
here which you can attend, which is the symbolic center, the seat of God's
presence in your midst. Don't take that for granted. Don't think that you can
violate the covenant community life that was characteristic of God's people Israel,
the doing of justice, the care for the marginalized and the poor and the weak, and
total devotion to Yahweh. In the society of the day, in Jeremiah's time, there was
corruption, they were violating this and Jeremiah was saying to them, "Babylon is
coming and exile is imminent because it will be the judgment of God for your
failure to live according to the covenant of God."
Jesus picked up that text from Jeremiah, combining it with one from Isaiah, "My
house shall be a house of prayer. You've made it a den of thieves." In other words,
you think you can go out and do all kinds of corporate scandals and so forth, and
then come hide in the temple and somehow or other you will be sheltered from
judgment because you're hiding within the temple. You have made the temple a
den of robbers, a den of thieves. And so, Jesus was picking up that same
prophetic role of the Hebrew prophet. He was a prophet in the best sense of the
word. There again, one didn't have the political establishment and the religious
establishment. There was a nation whose political-religious reality was all one,
with the temple as the symbolic center of it all. I suppose one could say it was
natural for the prophet to address Israel as that special people of God.
What do we do? We are an experiment, a very marvelous experiment in the
separation of Church and State. Thomas Jefferson's image of that wall of
separation between Church and State, that wall is being chipped away in our day,
to our hurt. I want to be very clear that I affirm the separation of Church and
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State. I believe that our nation was born in that age of reason, that dynamic
period of human history, the Enlightenment, post-French Revolution, "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity," all of that democratic ferment rising to the surface. Our
nation was an experiment throwing off all of that baggage of the European
systems and all forms of authoritarianism, lifting up the inalienable rights of the
human being. That was a great breakthrough in human experience. I do not trust
organized religion. I do not trust organized religion with power. There has been
too much tragedy, too much violence in the history of humankind that has used
religion as its fuel. I affirm our situation of separation of Church and State.
My question to you this morning is a serious question and a sincere question. I
come to you asking you to consider a question, not having an answer for you. My
question is: Given that we have the separation of Church and State, how does the
Church play its role over against the State in order that in the issues that we as a
people face, the spiritual dimension of those issues might be lifted up?
Obviously, in the political establishment, there is going to be political rhetoric,
propagandizing, campaigning of all forms and shapes, opposing parties, and
that's all part of our political system and it has its strong points, and it can have
some weak points. But how do we as a people, a religious community, a people
who want to have more than politics as usual, more than just pragmatism, more
than just expediency, more than elections being able to be bought and paid for,
how do we bring the spiritual dimension before the people so that, when we cast
our votes, or when we make our decisions as a nation, we have become aware, a
consciousness has been raised, as to the spiritual aspects of those respective
issues or candidates for whom we will be asked to decide? With the separation of
Church and State - how does the Church exercise its responsibility for the whole
people, for the well-being of society? That is an honest question that I want you to
think about with me this morning, because our situation is somewhat unique and,
as I think about this, I think about my own story.
I came out of school and to this congregation in 1960 and I was a salvation
preacher. I really believed that my responsibility was to preach the Gospel, to call
my people to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ in order that they might
have their sins forgiven and the hope of eternal life. I didn't really have to deal
with issues of political, economic, social implication. I didn't deal with them. I
didn't think... I was raised on the cliché, "Religion and politics don't mix." In my
early years, it wasn't a problem.
Then I left here and went to New Jersey and during that time the Vietnam War
situation was becoming critical and I can remember hearing the prophetic voices
and protests and realizing that we were in a fix, but it ended; we left without
victory or honor, and I had not raised my voice. I was growing restless about that
because I was recognizing more and more what a large slice of life was not taken
into account in my ministry.
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Then I went to Europe, but what I had to do was take a theological bath. I had to
figure it out theologically and biblically and that's where my growing edge was.
For four years, I wrestled. It was really the first education I got. It was the first
time I ever asked an honest question or really sought an answer that I didn't start
out with. I had gone to school until age 25 using every bit of intellectual power I
had to buttress the presuppositions that I imbibed with my mother's milk. It's a
tragedy, but it's true. But, I had to do it theologically and biblically. For the last
30 years here, I've been dragging you kicking and screaming through this
experience of trying to figure out how to translate the theological tradition into a
relevant statement for today, how to re-imagine the faith and spiritual life.
I'm so delighted that Ian Lawton is coming here without all that baggage that I've
carried and dragged along and bothered you with, so that he can start out fresh
with all of the enthusiasm and optimism and joy of finding out what it means to
live a spiritual life in the 21st century. Isn't it going to be fun? It's going to be so
much fun. But, what we've been through has brought us to the point where we're
ready for that.
But I'm asking you now myself, in the springtime of my senility: How should this
kind of thing be handled in a nation that values the separation of Church and
State, and yet certainly wouldn't advocate that its whole national life be devoid of
spiritual commentary, spiritual comment? How could we do that?
It is one thing to enunciate ideals and principles, but they have to land
somewhere. It is easier to look in retrospect and try to think about those things.
That's why I keep coming back to Bonhoeffer so often, because here was a
Christian man who really in his heart believed that to follow Jesus was to be a
pacifist, who saw what was going on in his nation and who said explicitly, "I have
to choose whether to will the downfall of my nation in order that Western
civilization may be saved, rather than the success of my nation which will be the
destruction of Western civilization." Here was a Christian thinker who was really
a pacifist, who was wrenched in his soul, who put himself in the place of a
conspirator's to assassinate Hitler, an act, a concrete act. His ideal, his passion
had to find concrete action. He didn't just do that on the side. He also preached it
until they cut him off the air. O, blest be the preacher who gets cut off, you see,
because he is saying something that's touching the nerve, that is, as Luther would
say, addressing where the battle is raging. How do we do that?
We, as a church community, generally in this country have pretty much operated
on the basis that religion and politics don't mix, and you may say, "I don't come
to church to hear politics." Okay. Then tell me, how does Christian faith, how
does biblical faith, how does a prophetic witness lift awareness and raise
consciousness so that we might be helped to see a larger picture and choose
wisely? I know we can do it in various ways, and that is done here. We're going to
do it here next week. We're going to do it here following the service today.
© Grand Valley State University
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Joel Toppen is going to talk about The American Empire, and that's good because
that's a forum and there are questions and answers and interaction. Next week,
Howard VanTill will talk about Intelligent Design and that's very pertinent right
now. It is a state issue. Our state is focused by these right-wing forces that want
to get Creationism back into the school, and next week Howard will lecture and
demonstrate. I was so glad for the wonderful interview in the paper with him
where he was able to say, "Trying to get Creationism in the school is a stealth
approach and it's bad theology and it's bad science." It is important because three
of the legislators who sponsor these bills come from Western Michigan. I was so
happy in the article that our Representative Barbara VanderVeen was quoted
because she says she's for this because she believes in a Creator! That's
ignorance! Of course we believe in a Creator! That's not the point. If you sponsor
a bill in the legislature, you ought to understand something about it, I would
think.
Tomorrow night come to the Circle of Friends. You don't have to be gay, you can
just be happy. The issue there is important. We have again in our state this
ridiculous idea about defining marriage constitutionally, and the Ottawa County
Commissioners are being asked to support such a constitutional amendment. It
really is an attack on the gay-lesbian community, and that paranoid fear about
same sex unions. So, it's good in those forums because there is talk-back.
But, I raise the question: How can we handle it as a community as a whole?
Otherwise, what the Church becomes in its worship is an irrelevant gathering of
like-minded people trying to find comfort and security, a kind of ritual society
that is unrelated to where we really live. We really live in the broader culture. We
really deal with these broader issues. There should be the light of the word of
God. I don't have the word of God, but I should be responsible at least to lift up
these things in order that we might think about it together and in order that we
might vote with great diversity but with intentionality so that we know and we
have thought about it so that we have not simply on national issues submitted or
yielded to tribalism and nationalism, which is sin. That we have thought about it
in the presence of the God who transcends every border and who transcends
every image that the respective religions have of God. I don't want the militant
Religious Right, which for the last two or three decades has really gotten into the
fray, to be the only voice of people who value the spiritual dimension. I want an
intelligent, passionate, open, liberal congregation like this, not as a congregation.
We don't need to do it together. But, where you are, do it intelligently and
seriously.
How can we do this? I would be satisfied this morning if you would go out of here
and if you would say, "Dick has raised an honest and a real question." I have to
quit; I have so much good stuff here, I can't ... You're going to have to come back
another time. It's really good stuff.
© Grand Valley State University
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I knew I was going to be handling this and I knew that I was handling it, but I
don't know how to handle this, so at Duba's table last Tuesday, I said, "Duncan,
you had this powerful pulpit in the city for all of those many years." Of course,
Duncan always gets after me and tells me in no uncertain terms how to do it. Don
said, "Duncan, you were a preacher that preached. Dick is a pastor who
preaches." Duncan would wail away from that pulpit and he was oblivious to who
was out there. He spoke to issues local, national, with a powerful prophetic voice.
He had the kind of armor about him which I don't have. Right now they're doing
a movie on Gerald Ford and he is being filmed because when Gerald Ford
pardoned Richard Nixon, his assistant counseled with Duncan Littlefair and
Duncan went into the pulpit and advocated the forgiving of Richard Nixon. From
Grand Rapids a pulpit that touched the nation's capital. Relevance! Power!
Prophetic!
I'd rather be your priest. I really would.
Last week, All Saints Day, candles, remembering those we've loved and lost a
while, and I sat up there and watched you stream forward to receive the
Eucharist. It is so deeply moving. Then I could speak to you about how the secret
of dying well is living well. In the narthex, Michael Bouman came up and said,
"Dick, the timing was right. Tomorrow my Dad's going to go off the respirator."
He said, "I want to take the tape," and he took the tape. Monday they took
Michael's father off the respirator, but he was able to be with the family. Mr. and
Mrs. Bouman listened to the sermon, Tuesday morning he died. That's what I
really love to be about. We'll never lose that here. But, this is too important a
place and the world has critical issues too important for us not to deal with the
larger picture, for the well-being of society, for the healing of nations, for the
creation of global community.
I'll consider this morning a success if you go out of here saying, "It's an honest
question. I have to think about it." And if you'll promise me never, never to say, "I
didn't come to church for politics."
© 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
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XXII
Scripture Text
Jeremiah 7:1-7, 11, Luke 19:41-46
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
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KII-01_RA-0-20031109
Date
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2003-11-09
Title
A name given to the resource
A Non-Election Year Sermon
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<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
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 9, 2003 entitled "A Non-Election Year Sermon", on the occasion of Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Jeremiah 7:1-7, 11, Luke 19:41-46.
Spiritual Dimension of National Issues