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The Gift of Life; The Life of Grace
Text: Luke 15
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost VIII, July 22, 2001
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Life is a gift. The Psalmist knew that. The old, familiar 100th Psalm says we are
the creatures of God's hand, God has made us, not we ourselves. Life is given. We
are the recipients of that miracle, and a miracle it is, really. A sperm and an ovum
unite and there potentially is a human being. The human genome project is
mapping out the genetic mysteries of the human being and it is far beyond my
understanding, but, in any case, when we think of life, when we think of birth, we
say it is a miracle, and it is a miracle in the best sense of the word, for miracle is
not some event that goes contrary to the processes of nature, but rather, it is that
wonderful, awesome consequence of nature itself when it is functioning
according to its intention. Life is a gift and life is a miracle.
It is almost impossible these days for a pastor to make a hospital call on a new
mother, but it used to be one of my favorite calls to make. Today, by the time we
hear of the birth, the mother is out of the hospital, hopefully with a baby in tow.
But, formerly, there were a few days of grace and it was always marvelous to
make that call. There were tears and there was joy, such a wonderful experience.
My favorite text was Psalm 34, verse three, which must have been in Mary's mind
when she sang The Magnificat, "O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt
God's name together," because in the face of the gift of life, in the face of a birth,
we know we are in the face of a wonderful miracle. I think that when my own
children were born, I was somewhat in a fog, not fully aware, lacking wisdom and
experience to stand in adequate awe. I wonder if it may be that God gives us
children before we are wise enough and have experience enough fully to
appreciate the awesomeness of it. Perhaps when we get that experience and
wisdom, we'd be so scared, we wouldn't have them in the first place. As
grandparents, at least we have a second chance to enter into that with our own
children if God is gracious to us.
I can remember as though it were yesterday four years ago this past Friday.
Nancy was entertaining some of her friends on our deck. They were having a
luncheon, as I remember, and she received a call from her son-in-law that our
daughter was on her way to the delivery room, and with uncharacteristic
irresponsibility, she left her guests at lunch. They could continue to eat if they
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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would. They could clean up if they were helpful, but she wouldn't care. She was
on her way to the hospital.
And so it is - the gift of life. Life is a gift, and when we stand in its presence, we
know miracle. It would be wonderful, we often say, if we could only keep them
little. Not really, of course. And yet, they do grow up, and in order to become
adults, they have to go through adolescence and then there comes that moment
when we have to let go, when we have done all we can do, when we have prayed
for them and nurtured them and shaped them and formed them as best we can,
given as much wise counsel as we can. But, with fear and trepidation, there comes
that moment when we have to let go. Then it is that life becomes a choice. It
becomes a choice for them. What will they do with this miracle of life that is
offered as gift?
In the story that Jesus told which is called the Story of the Prodigal Son, it could
well be called the story of a father's unrelenting love. But, interestingly, in the
very beginning of the story we learn that when the young son came and asked for
his inheritance, lacking all propriety and wisdom, the father let him go. There was
wisdom in that. All of us, I suppose, at one time or another have cajoled, we have
pled, we have bribed, perhaps. But, we know that there is a limit. There is a time
to let go.
Then the choice belongs to those who have grown up under our sheltering wings,
for it is time for them to try their own wings. The younger son wanted his
inheritance and he took off, and Jesus said he squandered his property on
dissolute living. Just what the details of that were is totally unimportant. The fact
is that he just thought it would be a party forever. He didn't realize that there
could be a turndown in the stock market. Suddenly he found himself in dire
straits.
Well, you know the story well. A significant little phrase has it that "he came to
himself." He came to himself. He had made a choice and it was a rather
disastrous choice. But, all of us have the privilege of one or two of those. Thank
God he came to himself, and he began to calculate a bit and then he said, "I will
arise and go to my father," because what he really wanted was a bunk and
breakfast. Or, maybe a bunk and three square meals. We get to the bottom of the
heap sometimes and we get desperate and we need the common, ordinary things.
He was remembering the parents' home, its civility and its dignity and its
adequate provision, and so he arose and went to his father without any sense at
all that there was not a day since he had left that the father's heart had not been
wrenched and that the father had not looked longingly down the road if
perchance he might see some indication of a returning boy.
Well, he wasn't home yet. He wasn't even totally changed and transformed at this
point. He was still calculating a bit He was still figuring how he could make it on
his own with a little help. And so, he had a well-crafted speech that he was going
to give to his father. He had memorized that speech and said it over and over all
© Grand Valley State University
�The Gift of Life; The Life of Grace
Richard A. Rhem
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the way from the far country, only to be interrupted by the father's running to
him, embracing him, kissing him, the father's heart breaking over him, and the
father's love breaking his heart And then, finally, he was home, for he had had an
experience of an overwhelming grace. No more calculation. No more selfjustification. No more rationalization. Just home in the father's arms. Rembrandt
has captured it magnificently in oil on canvas, 'The Return of the Prodigal." He
was home. Grace transformed him.
But, it isn't only the far country that beckons those who come to years of
responsibility and have to choose. There are those who dwell in the far country,
even though it's only the back forty, those who never leave home, but have never
been home. Those who are responsible and faithful and dependable who never
kick over the traces or kick up their heels. Those who are righteous to a fault. In
the parable, the elder brother who was such a person, coming in from the fields,
hears the music and dancing and catches a whiff of the fatted calf roasting on the
spit, and like the eruption of Mt Etna, all of his anger and resentment and
hostility break forth. He had been faithful and responsible every day of his life,
and he had hated every minute of it. He had not followed his younger brother's
example, maybe because he lacked imagination or courage or whatever. But the
reason that we cannot applaud him for his faithfulness and his righteousness is
his self-righteousness, and the fact that there was no joy or spontaneity in his life.
What he did, he did as onerous duty and heavy responsibility, and the resentment
continued to build up until the moment of the party, of the joy, of the
spontaneous bursting forth of life watered richly with grace. And then, in total
alienation, he left the home, the home of which he had never really been a part.
Life is a gift, and then becomes a choice. We have to remember why Jesus told
this story. Luke tells us in the opening of the 15th chapter that it was because he
was receiving criticism because of his table fellowship, because of the people with
whom he consorted, because he was open to ail sorts and conditions of
humankind, because he didn't make distinctions between clean and unclean,
righteous and unrighteous, godly and godless. And he didn't do that because
Jesus saw more deeply into the human soul than most of us. Jesus saw the
turmoil there; Jesus saw the hurt and the pain, he saw the fear and the wonder
there, and he knew that all of the negativity sometimes takes over a human soul, a
reaction, a very clear response to a multitude of life experiences.
But Jesus never lost sight of the fact, as he looked into the depths of every human
being, that there was a child of God, and so, with open arms, with an open
invitation to the table, with an embrace, with a spirit and an attitude that was
totally opposite of any kind of exclusion or ruling out, Jesus was able, as the
father in the parable, to transform human beings, to give them an image of God
as the God full of grace who creates every new possibility.
Here we are this morning, gathered in community in worship. What an
interesting story it would be if all of our tales could be told. Some of us have been
© Grand Valley State University
�The Gift of Life; The Life of Grace
Richard A. Rhem
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here forever and some of us have returned somewhat recently. Some of us are full
of grace and some of us are still not sure, and the message this morning is that
grace creates the possibility for new beginnings, for new possibilities. There is
always the opportunity to choose again and to be born and to be born again, for
finally, the only thing that God desires for us is that we come home and that we
rest in the grace symbolized in the arms of the father as we are washed with tears
and made clean. If only we would come home, we would learn to sing, to sing a
simple song.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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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.
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Interfaith worship
Sermons
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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Event
Pentecost VIII
Scripture Text
Luke 15
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2001-07-22
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The Gift of Life, The Life of Grace
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 22, 2001 entitled "The Gift of Life, The Life of Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII. Scripture references: Luke 15.
Inclusive
Life
Miracle
Pentecost
Prodigal Love
Transforming Grace
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PDF Text
Text
Birth: The Way Home
From the Advent series: Home
Text: John 1:12-13; John 3:3
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Christmas Day, December 25, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
In his poem, “For The Time Being,” W. H. Auden writes, “Nothing can save us
that is possible. We who must die demand a miracle,” and so we do. The Advent
theme of “Home” culminates today as we note that birth is the way home. And
birth is a miracle. Birth is not a human possibility; it is the gift of God. Not this
morning that we celebrate the literal birth of the Christ Child, but the birth that
the Christ Child pointed to and made available to us: that birth from above, or
being born again as it is popularly referred to. It is that birth and only that birth
which is the way home. We’ve noted the yearning for home in the human heart.
Last week we established the impossibility of home, the impossibility as a human
possibility. But let me celebrate with you this morning the reality of spiritual
birth—that new birth which is the gift of God. It is that miracle that we who must
die demand, for nothing humanly possible can save us.
New birth – that’s the way that John describes it in the Christmas story that he
tells, which is not with all the familiar accouterments of stars and angels and
bright shining song, but rather in a cosmic eternal drama. In the prologue to his
story of Jesus, he begins in the beginning, in fact before the beginning. He says,
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” Then he tells how that Word was in human history, in the history of that
special people that God had called. But that Word, coming to his own, was not
received. “He came to his own, but they received him not.” But there were a few,
John tells us. Some received him and some believed, and to them he gave power
to become the children of God. John is very clear that that is not a human
possibility, for he stresses that those who believed in his name were born not of
the blood or of the flesh, or of human will, but of God. For birth, the way home, is
not a human possibility. It is God’s gift and it is all of grace.
In order to explicate the themes of his prologue, John tells us in the third chapter
the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a respected leader in Israel, a rabbi, a
great teacher. Nicodemus was curious about this one Jesus who had caused such
a stir and to whom the common people listened gladly. He came to him by night
to learn the secret of that spiritual reality, that world that seemed so foreign to
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Richard A. Rhem
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Nicodemus. Jesus said to him, “You must be born from above.” And Nicodemus,
as the foil for this mysterious teaching, says “How can one enter a second time
into his mother’s womb?” Jesus replies, “I’m not talking about literal physical
birth. I am talking about that miracle that happens to one. That miracle that no
one can manipulate and no one can force that is not at our disposal. I’m talking
about that birth from above, where the breath or the wind of the Spirit of God
blows where it wills. You see the effects of it, but you don’t know whence it comes
of whither it goes; the mystery of the movement of God who has invaded our
space and our time in the miracle of the Word become flesh, whose Spirit
continues to riffle our hearts and create newness within us.” Nicodemus probably
stands for the classical, institutional religion, that institutional religion which is
so very valuable because it keeps the story alive and it continues in a community
like this where the story is cared for and nurtured, and where the rituals are
enacted, and where we baptize children, and take bread and cup. The
institutional religion is so very important because the Spirit always needs form.
But Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus made it very clear that
institutional religion and ritual and form such as we are all participating in is not
an end in itself, but only a means to an end. And, the end in itself is new birth. It
is a spiritual life. It is newness that is created that comes upon us silently,
mysteriously; that new spiritual reality that opens up whole new worlds before us
and brings us home wherever we are in whatever circumstance. When one has
been born from above, one is birthed into a whole new reality and that is the end
of Christmas. That is the end of incarnation. And that is the glad Good News that
has come to the world in the birth of one who said, “You must be born again.”
To be born again. That phrase has entered into popular terminology in our day,
hasn’t it? Wasn’t it Jimmy Carter who in his presidential campaign brought the
term to common usage? I think perhaps it was, and since that time don’t I
remember a cover on Time Magazine some years ago that talked about the “Born
Again” phenomena. Since it has become so popular, everybody gets ‘born’d again’
now and again—athletes, celebrities; any kind of a peak experience is now
referred to in common parlance as being ‘born again.’ Of course, when that
happens it tends to drain such an ideal, or such a reality, of its deep spiritual
meaning. Yet, maybe the very usage of the term is the way people at large get the
idea that it dawns upon them that there is something more than just getting up in
the morning and going to work and coming home and going to bed to get up in
the morning . . . and all of the routine of our ordinary days where we can live such
one-dimensional lives, unaware of rumors of angels and intimations of
transcendence. Maybe the fact that being ‘born again’ has entered into common
parlance is a sign that people are becoming aware, that there is another whole
world and the possibility of newness into which one might be created.
Nicodemus, thank God, I think had the experience because if you read further on
in John’s Gospel (after the crucifixion as a matter of fact), you’ll find that it was
Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea, that took down the body of Jesus
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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and embalmed it an put spices upon it and laid Jesus to rest—at some great risk,
of course. We are told also by John that there were many of the leaders who
believed in Jesus but secretly, daring not to say anything because they loved the
honor of men rather than the glory of God. I think Nicodemus had the
experience, and it wasn’t something that was contrary to the ways of a great
religious teacher in Israel, a great rabbi, but it was something more . . . more than
just the institutional forms, more than just the thing in itself and the practice of
religion. I think Nicodemus as an old man experienced new birth, and that’s the
wonderful possibility, and it’s the promise of Christmas. And it’s the promise for
all of us as well in our day.
We live in a most exciting time. We live in an age of transition. When did it
begin? I don’t know exactly. When will something jell? I am not at all sure, but
we’re living in a hinge period. We are living in a fascinating time, and for some a
very anxious time, because some of the old forms and structures have been
shaken a bit. Some of the foundations are crumbling a bit. You see, a culture goes
along on its way rather thoughtlessly and almost automatically for a long time,
maybe centuries. Then the myths and the ideas and the common assumptions
that are held by everyone lose their grip on the human imagination. People begin
to think that perhaps there’s something other, and perhaps it is that there are
angels that hover about and send messages, perhaps in the intuition and the
depths of the human being. Then old ways are questioned and institutions begin
to falter, and the guardians of the law, and the guardians of the old tradition hang
on with desperate clutching fear, trying to buoy up structures that no longer will
carry the freight. We live in such a time as that.
There are a lot of people that are afraid and are anxious. You always at times like
that hear the cry that we ought to go back to a former day. Nostalgia fills the air
as though there really were “good old days.” If we really describe the “good old
days” we would find that we’ve moved a long way beyond those “good old days,”
those common assumptions that everyone took for granted. We live in a day
when there are many people and whole nations, and whole groups of people that
are coming to consciousness and to self-awareness and are saying, “We too are
human. Look at us. Give us our day, our ‘place in the sun.’ ” We live in a day that
is full of the rising of expectation and of dreams and desires. We live in a time
when the old ways simply won’t do it any more. It’s a time of transition. It’s a
fascinating time.
The cover story in Newsweek Magazine, November 28, 1994,“The Search For
The Sacred,” gives accounts of all kinds of people who are searching for
something that, perhaps without their knowing it, has been born from above. A
spirit has taken hold of them and they are simply not satisfied any more to live in
that old way, some of them very successful in the old way of the world, the
commonly accepted way. Some of them are getting ‘off the trolley’ as it were and
simply saying, “There must be more.” They must have had a sense of angels and
intimations of eternity coming to birth in their heart. Some of them are seeking
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Richard A. Rhem
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that spiritual reality in the most bizarre fashion. But we live in a day in which
there is a widespread and general spiritual awakening.
I want to say that very clearly because we hear so much of the opposite. We hear
so much that denigrates our present day, that there is so much wrong with our
world, and that society is so filled with ills and all of that negative talk. God
knows there are enough problems to deal with in the social structure of our
society and our world, but I believe that Christ has come and light has come, and
the yeast of the Spirit is continuing to permeate the history of humankind. And I
believe that we live in one of the most fascinating times that it has ever been
possible for anyone to live. We live in a time where spiritual openness and
curiosity and sensitivity have emerged, such as have never been known before. I
do believe that. When you have a news magazine covering this spiritual quest of a
multitude of people in great diversity, then you know that there is something
afoot in the world. There is so much in the dreams of humankind spoken by the
poets in great beauty with all kinds of images that the world has never yet
realized. Will we always simply live with dreams and never come to reality? Or
will those dreams, will the poets finally get through to the marrow of our bones?
Will this world be transformed one day? Oh, not in a superficial optimism, but
look about you. Recognize that you have brothers and sisters around this world
who are not satisfied any longer to live in a closed world, one story with no
angels, no transcendence, no love at the core of things, no beating of the heart to
the needs of the other, those who would simply dominate rather than build
community.
We live in a fascinating day. There are great possibilities in our day as we stand at
the edge of the future, the third millennium, a time that seems to bring out the
fear and anxiety of people, but rather ought to be for us an invitation to invite the
newness that is created by the eternal Spirit of God. Home is through birth. It is
not a human possibility. But, by God, it happens here and there, and it is
happening, and I believe it will happen in widespread fashion as the millennium
comes around. It’s a wonderful time in which to be alive.
For example, I think there are people all over in different religious traditions who
are beginning to wake up to one another. We live in a decade that is on the edge
of the third millennium. I do believe that the next millennium will be not a
millennium of religious absolutism, but of a pluralism that is open to the other,
where we share the spiritual riches and the endowments that we have all
received, where together we grow into a greater understanding of the reality of
life and the depths of love. This is a world in which a statesman such as Vaclav
Havel of Czechoslovakia calls on world leaders to wake up to the spiritual reality
and to build a global world community, which is obviously necessary. This is a
day in which to come alive to the riches of our own tradition, to be ready to share
them, and to be ready as well to receive the riches of others – rather than closing
ourselves off, opening ourselves up to the reality of spirituality that is being
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Richard A. Rhem
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created by the one true God who has come to us, sharp focused in the face of
Jesus Christ.
Or, if you want to go into another area, the area of the sciences. If you would trace
as you’ve heard me say many times, the history of the science of physics, you
would find that, in the wake of new physical theory, there has always been a
breakthrough in theological understanding. It was in the rise of the Age of
Reason, the Modern Age, the Enlightenment, with Newtonian physics that we’ve
got this closed cause and effect universe. And rationalism dominated the scene.
The human mind was the measure of truth and reality. Then along comes an
Einstein with his Theory of Relativity that I don’t understand, but which I know
really threw a wrench into the Newtonian machine that had so neatly described
reality. Then, of course, building on Einstein was Niels Bohr, the Scandinavian,
the Danish physicist, who comes up with Quantum Theory. He and Einstein were
friends but toward the end of their life they couldn’t communicate any more
because Einstein couldn’t quite go along with the indeterminacy, the
unpredictability, the randomness, the mystery of this physical universe. Einstein
said of God, “The Old Man doesn’t play dice.” Bohr said, “Oh yes, the Old Man
does. This world is filled with more potential, more infinite possibility than any
predictability on the part of anyone who has yet thought about these things.”
Then if you read the implications of Quantum physics you know about the
possibility of parallel universes. We hear of black holes and no one knows what
black holes are, but what if you could go through a black hole and find yourself in
another whole universe through a time warp, in another whole age, in another
whole reality? You think that’s poppy cock?
It’s the stuff of science fiction and the stuff of science fiction usually is the prelude
to what everybody knows in another century or two. There will be a day when our
enlightenment thought, our heavy rationalism, our bowing down to the God of
human reason will look so shoddy and so shabby, we’ll laugh at our silly
smallness in the light of the infinity of the universe that has been created by the
Eternal God who can never be defined and will never be brought into a corner.
This God who creates and continues to create in an expanding universe whose
deepest minds, probing it, stand in wonder of it all. There is more wonder and
awe in the natural sciences today than in those of us who are people of the Book,
who know it all, have it all wrapped, all sealed up, and have the definitions down
pat.
No, home is a way of birth. Home comes by opening oneself up to a miracle. It
comes silently. It comes unpredictably. It comes without being able to demand it.
It comes . . . and when it comes . . . and when it has happened . . . one says, “Oh,
my God! I never would have thought . . .” and then all of our hopes and dreams
and all of our creeds and scientific propositions are like child’s play in the face of
the reality that breaks through and comes within our grasp. Ah! It’s a fascinating
time in which to be the people of God. It’s a fascinating time to acknowledge the
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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possibility of new birth, of being born from beyond ourselves, of being born into
newness such as we’ve never yet dreamed of.
I want to interrupt this sermon with a commercial. I want to tell you that you
have a Team whose quartet of voices are ready to lead you into the newness and
the excitement that lies beyond the horizon. You have in Colette one whose faith
formation will tell the children the “Old, Old Stories” with question and wonder
and awe, so that the children we baptize will know the stories that have shaped
us. Then you have, in our young friend Bob, one who will care for you and also
challenge you and lead you into social engagement in order that the world of
which the prophets dreamed where lion and lamb will lie down together, where
they would beat swords into plow shares and spears into pruning hooks, where
they would learn war no more, where they would not hurt nor destroy in all God’s
holy mountain not because of an enforced Roman peace, but because of justice
and equity and compassion and community – you have in young Bob Kleinheksel
one who will lead you to the edge and push you over. And if you are hungry, if you
are looking for something more, if you would see a rift in the heavens, if you
would be born again, come to Peter who will lead you with prayer and
meditation, and a cultivation of a spirituality which is the wave of the future
where we are all going. And I . . . I hope, simply, to skid into the next millennium
on their coattails.
This is a wonderful day in which to be alive. Nothing can save us that is possible.
We who must die demand a miracle. And the miracle has happened. It happens
and one breathes deeply and everything so familiar and known and ordinary is
transformed with a radiance that shines out of the depths of eternity. The light
has come for those who have eyes to see it. The Word has been enfleshed in those
who would touch it . . . for just a moment.
For just a moment let’s have the lights dimmed. The evangelical church has
missed the point so often because it has said that if you would believe, or if you
would assent to this, or if you would have faith you would be born again. It’s
backwards. Being born again is not a human possibility. It is not the end of some
human effort. It is not the will of the flesh or human will. It is of God. But in just a
moment or two, be open to the miracle. Just breathe deeply, for who knows, there
could be in this moment the intersection of eternity with time, and the likes of us
might be born from above.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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e5d450ab7aafd6dbe73cd9732743cd25
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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
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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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>
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English
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Sound
Text
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Event
Christmas Day
Scripture Text
John 1:12-13, John 3:3
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19941225
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1994-12-25
Title
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Birth the Way Home
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
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Sound
Text
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audio/mp3
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Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 25, 1994 entitled "Birth the Way Home", on the occasion of Christmas Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:12-13, John 3:3.
Christmas
Incarnation
Mystery
Spiritual Quest
Transforming Grace
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ec7104c170faf6db544f355a7d0109e3
PDF Text
Text
Israel: God Wrestler
A Tale of Providence and Grace
Text: Genesis 27:38; Genesis 32:9-10, 28
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 9, 1994
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Esau said to his father, 'Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me, me also
father!' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Genesis 27:38
And Jacob said, 'O God of my father Abraham…I am not worthy of the least of all
the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown your servant…’
Genesis 32:9-10
Then the man said, 'You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have
striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.' Genesis 32:28
We have had a series of messages in which we are trying to see the broad sweep of
the Biblical story. The message this morning is about the one of whom we read,
Jacob. You can tell that there's material there for a dozen sermons, and I've done
series on Jacob in the past. This morning, I will simply hit the mountain peak of
that story. I am not treating the story of Jacob this morning in order to find the
preaching values that are there or the applications that are there for our life so
much as, rather, to see the story of Jacob in the larger puzzle of the whole biblical
story.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis are Israel's understanding of where it fit into
the broad scheme of things. Those first eleven chapters were stories told, by
which Israel gave expression to its understanding of where it stood in
relationship to the whole cosmos and the whole sweep of human history. In those
eleven chapters it witnessed to its understanding of the human situation, why life
is like it is. Those stories, so profound, gave expression to the best insights that
Israel had about the world, about God and the human condition.
Then last week we moved from that universal scope to the more particular focus,
because that was Israel's story. In the 10th chapter of Genesis you have the table
of the nations, and it is out of those nations that God calls one family, and the call
was to Abraham and Sarah. We looked at that story, that really beautiful and
tragic story, of Abraham and Sarah who had to trust God in the extremity, yet
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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who in the meantime took things into their own hands so that Sarah's slave girl,
Hagar, bore Abraham a son, whom he loved. And Sarah, being so human, forced
the slave girl and her son out of the tent. The tragic story of Ishmael, the
firstborn, Abraham's beloved, but who was turned away. The question is this
matter of God's choice in selection. Does it always have to be a case of one who is
elected and one who is rejected? Isaac, the child of promise, comes—Ishmael is
rejected. Ishmael, as it were, Abraham's son by normal, natural means. But Israel
understood that, ultimately, the fulfillment was not the product of human
ingenuity or human potential; it was a miracle, it was the creation of God. So out
of Sarah's barren womb must arise the child of promise, Isaac.
Then Isaac's story is told, although Isaac is not a very colorful figure and he
doesn't get a lot of press. He takes a wife, Rebecca. Abraham sends his servant
back to the home territory in order to secure a wife for Isaac, and Isaac and
Rebecca are married. But, do you remember? Here again, Rebecca is "barren." It
is not the case that once God gets this whole thing going by grace that it can kind
of generate itself. No, not at all. Once again, a barren womb seems the way for
this people, from whom will come, the promise says, children as numerous as the
stars of the heaven. This time conception occurs. It’s a tough pregnancy. Rebecca
wonders if she shouldn't die, and then she is told, "two nations are in your
womb," foreshadowing the conflict that will come down through the ages,
beginning with the brothers Esau and Jacob. Esau, the first out of the womb, his
heel grasped by his brother Jacob, giving his brother his name, "heel" or
"supplanter" or "grasper," setting us up for the conflict between these two
brothers. Again the ordinary way of things will be upset because it will not be the
firstborn, it will be the second son, Jacob, who will be the bearer of the promise.
"Why?" you say. "Why?" I say. The inscrutable mystery of God. I don't know. The
story runs smack into it again. Not Ishmael but Isaac. Not Esau but Jacob. And
all our sympathies are with Esau. He's the kind of kid that everyone would love.
But Jacob, soft skinned Jacob, was his mother's favorite. One day Esau comes in
famished and Jacob is stirring up a pot of stew, scheming and planning, always
thinking. Shrewd Jacob says, "I'll give you the stew for the rights of first birth."
Esau said, "What's the future? It's now that I am hungry. Give me the soup." But
then the really tough part of the story. Isaac is old now. He is blind. He is ready to
die. He is ready to bestow that final blessing on his firstborn, so he calls Esau and
says, "Go to the field and hunt and bring me venison, fix me a stew, and I will
bless you." You know the story. Rebecca hears and tells Jacob to go get a kid.
They cook it up and she puts hairy skins on his soft arms and sends him in to the
blind old man to pose as Esau in order that he might get the blessing. Isaac gives
Jacob the blessing, even though suspicious about the identity of this one. Esau
comes back and weeps bitterly. Once again, the same cry as Ishmael. "Is there
only one blessing? Can you not bless me, oh my father?" But the deed is done, the
word has been spoken, the word cannot be recalled. That's the way it was in that
culture, in their understanding. And if that's the understanding that everyone
shares, that's the way it is. That has power.
© Grand Valley State University
�Israel: God Wrestler
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
So Jacob has to flee because Esau says, "Now twice he's done it to me, I'll kill
him." So Jacob flees a days' journey and finally, exhausted, lies down to rest and,
of course, one would suspect that he would be wide-eyed all night, trembling with
guilt and fear. Not so. He lies down and sleeps like a baby and has a dream so
magnificent that it brings tears to our eyes. There's a heaven. There's a ladder
stretching up to heaven with angels coming up and down, and at the top is God. A
revelation, an epiphany, call it what you will, an experience of an encounter with
the living God who says, "I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac, your father. I
will be your God and you will be the covenant child, and I will bless all nations
and I will be with you wherever you go. I will keep you and I will bring you
home." Amazing, isn't it? He goes off to his uncle to find himself a wife. Leah, and
then Rachel. Leah is given to him by subterfuge, but he works longer and he
earns Rachel. He loves Rachel. But Rachel is what? "Barren."
Here we are again. Finally through all the prosperity he gains his flocks and his
herds and Rachel has a child, Joseph. The wife, the love of his life, gives him the
apple of his eye. In late years he prepares to go home, to meet Esau. Always equal
to the task, probably with a yellow pad or two, making notations, he plans and he
schemes, ready once again to manipulate this weaker brother.
Then, the night before the encounter, he sends his family over the brook and
remains on the other side in the darkness alone. The story tells us a man
assaulted him. A man? A demon? No, we read between the lines. This is none
other than God. Jacob wrestles with God. He wrestles all night and seems almost
to prevail, but the dawn is about to break and the match must be over before
sunrise. At the moment it seems that Jacob will prevail, his thigh is "touched,"
and he is crippled. Now he clings to the other, but not in order to overcome, but
rather he clings to the other out of need, crying out, "Bless me. I will not let go
until you bless me."
As a result, he is given a new name. No longer Jacob the deceiver, the supplanter,
the grasper, but "Israel"—God wrestler. The name in that culture also signified
the person, and the new name signified a new person. Jacob is born anew at
Jabbok that night as he wrestles with God, striving with every ounce of energy to
prevail, finally crippled, fearfully wondering who this was, only to discover that
he has struggled with the God of all mercy who blesses him there. The sun begins
to light the conflagration in the eastern sky, and we see Jacob limping off. He
seems even to be dancing on that crippled leg. He has been crippled by a very
great grace. Fascinating story. The Hebrews telling about their roots. Israel is
trying to understand who it is. It is trying to understand itself in the light of the
whence of its birth. Abraham, Isaac . . . but Jacob?
I don't suppose it is true any more in school classrooms. But it seems as though
when I was attending there was always a picture of George Washington, father of
the nation. Wasn't George Washington the one who never told any lies? I mean,
founding fathers and mothers should be heroes and heroines. They should be
© Grand Valley State University
�Israel: God Wrestler
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
exemplars. They should be models. They are those who are held up to us as great
figures, and we are called to emulate them. But Israel claims Jacob as its father,
this schemer, this planner, this usurper, this manipulator, this exploiter. This one
they say is our father. Israel telling its story in terms of this man, and believing
that God worked through one like that. That all is so much of grace that it actually
scandalizes us. No morality play, this. No whitewashing of the forefathers and
foremothers in order to claim a squeaky clean past.
This is a people who knew that God worked with the raw material of human
history and of humankind, and that a Jacob was in the line of covenant blessing.
How could God use a Jacob? How could God further God's purposes, God's
eternal purposes of love and grace through one like that? Yet you see that's
exactly the heart and center of biblical faith. Finally, Israel knew that it was given
life by God, that life was gift, that all was grace, that there was nothing in itself,
no righteousness or goodness or mercy or merit. There was no claim at all on this
one who moves inscrutably, and blesses, who wrestles with us and struggles with
us, but finally will overcome us.
I loved Ruth's phrase "knocked to her knees by grace." It is only grace that finally
knocks us to our knees. You see, it is in stories like this that you see what the
Bible is all about. I will tell you that my whole understanding of grace arises out
of these stories. My understanding of grace comes not out of the New Testament,
even though it’s there. It was in this sense of God choosing this people from
progenitors like this one that it had to be all of grace, that choice, that selection,
that election which brought with it in the very choice and selection, tragedy and
disappointment and rejection. That very choice, that selection, that was not in
order that the rest might be abandoned, but it was a choice of these in order that
all might be embraced.
If God would choose these, if God would use these, then God will use anything,
anyone. Then it is all of grace, radical grace. Radical grace! And if it is radical
grace in its foundation, it must be radical grace to the end of time and to the
whole expanse of the human family. It is grace because God is grace. Will you
question God? Will you put God on the stand? Will you say, "Why God?” Sure you
will and the only answer is "I am God, and I am full of grace."
That's the story of this scoundrel who was finally conquered by grace at Bethel. In
the midst of his guilty night, there heaven opens up and God says, "I will be with
you, and I will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you home, “through many
dangers, toils and snares. I have already come. ‘Tis grace has brought me safe
thus far, and grace will bring me home." Amazing Grace.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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5b5cd36e313437c2e8219438bf4010b8
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
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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 XX
Series
The First Testament
Scripture Text
Genesis 27: 38, 32:9-10, 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
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KII-01_RA-0-19941009
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-10-09
Title
A name given to the resource
Israel: God Wrestler - A Tale of Providence and Grace
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 9, 1994 entitled "Israel: God Wrestler - A Tale of Providence and Grace", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 27: 38, 32:9-10, 28.
Grace of God
Mystery
Transforming Grace
-
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d2a3cd92c4149ce0d1d0b31550c4d933
PDF Text
Text
The God Who Forgives
From the series: The Faith Of Jesus; Trust in a Gracious God
Text: Psalm 130:4; Luke 23:34
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Lent V, March 28, 1993
Transcription of the spoken sermon
But there is forgiveness with you…. Psalm 130:4
“Father, forgive them….” Luke 23:34
Jesus died the way he died because he lived the way he lived, and he lived as he
lived because of that which he believed in. The faith of Jesus - that’s what we have
been trying to get at these weeks. What did Jesus believe? That is an important
question because what he believed shaped how he lived, and how he lived issued
in the way he died. So to understand his death we need to know what he believed.
We’ve been saying that at the heart of it was a belief in the nearness of God. Trust
in a gracious God. Or, for today, trust in a God who forgives us. Sometimes, in the
Christian Church, we tend to think that we have a monopoly on forgiveness. It is
not so. I have been trying to say in these weeks that Jesus lived out his Jewish
faith, and it was as a believing Jew that Jesus believed in the God who forgives.
Jesus is sometimes claimed by us as the first Christian and that is not true. He
was a believing Jew. And if he believed in the God who forgives, then it is because
in his own Jewishness, Yahweh, the God of Covenant, was a God of grace. We do
a great injustice if we think of the Old Testament as being over against the New
Testament. In fact, even that terminology is a put-down for Israel. For it is not as
though there was an old covenant, and then a new covenant, as though there are
two covenants. There is only one covenant of grace. There was its form in Israel,
and its form in Jesus.
To be sure, Jeremiah, speaking to Judah in a time of its own rebellion said that a
time would come when God would make a new covenant. But it is the same
covenant. It is new in the same sense as we speak of the new moon - the new
moon that has appeared recently this week in a small sliver. It’s not a new moon
at all; it is the new appearance of the old moon, the same old moon. Thank God!
Israel knew that God is a God who forgives and probably nowhere does that come
to better expression than in the Psalmist, the Psalter hymnbook of the Old
Testament, particularly in the seven Psalms, the group Psalms 32, 51, 102, and
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Forgives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
130, as we had it this morning. There we find this marvelous statement. “There is
forgiveness with Thee,” the Psalmist cries out of the depths. The depths are the
chaos, the watery chaos, the chaos that always threatens the world and
humankind, and one, in whatever experience he may have been in, feels the
foundations shaking, and he is being sucked down. He cries, “Out of the depths.
Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my cry. Let your ears be
attentive to the supplications.” And then, conceding his guilt, making no
rationalization, no parade of excuses, he simply says, “Lord, if you should mark
iniquity, who could stand?” Lord, if you kept books, who of us could stand? But
then this amazing, wonderful Gospel declaration, “But with you there is
forgiveness.”
Jesus lived that way. That’s what he believed. And we can tell, because that’s the
way he acted. He was one who, going through Jericho one day, picked out the
leading entrepreneur, the wealthiest man in town, the one who had gotten the
franchises on the tax-farm system, Zaccheus, by name. He may have been short,
but he was big. And he was curious, for whatever reason we don’t know. Maybe
just curious. Maybe some hankering need, some unfulfilled yearning that all of
the taxes that he could skim off could never satisfy. Jesus said, “Come down. I
want to dine with you today.” And in that story we have what we’ve been talking
about all these weeks. The table fellowship of Jesus. He sat down at table. He sat
down at table and thereby mediated the grace of God. He said to Zaccheus, “I’m
going to your house today,” thereby indicating an acceptance that amazed
Zaccheus. It’s a lucky thing that he didn’t fall out of the tree. “I’m going to your
house today. I’m going to sit at your table today. I’m going to be in solidarity with
you today. I’m going to speak the grace and the forgiveness by my very presence
in breaking bread with you today.”
Luke probably adds the story recorded in the 8th verse that tells us about
Zaccheus’ amazing response to this amazing grace. Zaccheus claims that he is
going to make restitution far beyond the law would require, but Luke probably
adds that verse 8 - it was a story without that verse at one point, but Luke uses
the story as a paradigm, as a model which shows the results of conversion. But if
you just take out the fact that he was going to make all this restitution, read the
story without verse 8, then you will find Jesus at his table gracing Zaccheus with
his presence and saying, “Today salvation is come.” If you put verse 8 in there,
the thing that tends to happen to us is that we tend to see Zaccheus making
restitution and then Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come,” as though it is
salvation that has come in the wake of the restitution that has been made. But
that is not so. Jesus simply embraces this man, and it is in the embrace that this
man is transformed.
Grace always grants the acceptance, and whatever follows is a consequence of the
initiative of the grace of God. It is the announcement of forgiveness that is the
catalyst of repentance and penitence. And in the church, and in religion in
general, all sorts of religions, that’s what we never keep straight. Somehow or
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Forgives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
other when we get organized, and we get institutionalized, and we get our
prescriptions and our formulas, and we have our way in and our processes and
our structures, then it becomes a matter of believing certain things or doing
certain things, behaving a certain way, making a certain response, on the basis of
which we are embraced. That is simply the way of religion - all religions, because
as Walter Brueggemann says in his commentary on Psalm 130, “This premature
announcement of forgiveness scandalizes all of our calculating religion.”
I wonder, is that enough? The story from the instance of the Psalmist, the story of
Zaccheus, and I could add the stories of the prodigal son or the Publican and the
Pharisee or I could multiply the stories of Jesus, but in the Zaccheus story is what
we have been talking about - the God of the abandoned, the God of the outcast,
the God of the excluded. Jesus undercutting the religious institutions, the
institutional forms. I don’t think he had anything against religious forms, as long
as they were recognized as the medium through which the presence of God and
the grace of God came. But not as absolutes. Not as though, somehow or other,
the organized religion, or church, or temple, or the mosque held the spigot which
could turn on and off the grace of God. No! No, Jesus spoke of an immediacy of
the forgiveness of God, announced ahead of time, before there was any evidence
of faith or repentance, or penitence. And I wonder, is that enough?
A couple of weeks ago on Wednesday night I raised the question about whether
or not “That’s Enough?” Is it enough just to say, “I forgive you?” God knows that
there is something in us that disallows that, calls for something more. I think
there’s something primal in us that wants something more. I think it is true of all
religions. Religions speak about appeasing God, or expiating God, or atonement.
Religions have a means by which to put people back into communion with God,
and there is always a sacrifice or an offering, or a price to pay. There is, it seems
in religion, be it Islamic, Jewish, Christian, some bookkeeping that has to go on.
God can’t simply forgive. I think there is something in us that demands that,
because we structure our religions with that same “tit for tat.” Paul uses the
image of the Roman law court. This is his metaphor, at least one of his
metaphors. He has more than one for the atonement, but essentially, Paul’s
metaphor claims that Jesus “takes the rap” for us, so that there isn’t really
forgiveness pure and simple. Something has been paid. Someone has paid. Is that
important? Is that necessary? There must be something in us that senses that
that must be necessary. That’s the way we operate. I mean, you can’t run a world
on any other basis, can you?
But look at our world. Last night on the NBC News there were two clips about the
escalating violence, the IRA, the bombings, the capricious bombings in England.
A three year old killed and then a twelve year old killed. There was a funeral
yesterday, and services being called in Ireland out of deep concern, and the
Protestant extremists in northern Ireland not having anything really to do with
Protestantism, but they killed four Catholics again, gunned them down, dead.
You see the terror on the faces of the people. Then the clip from Israel where the
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Forgives
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
Palestinian issue escalates, the violence is greater, stabbings, shootings, a young
man named Martin Fletcher, I think, who goes to the store and buys his pistol
and takes some target practice, hating to do it and yet feeling he must do it. This
terrible thing going on in Bosnia Herzegovina, the genocide where as a military
strategy the soldiers rape and impregnate the Muslim women. Dehumanizing.
Terrible things! Do you just say, “You are forgiven?”
But, you see, what’s going on in our world is the festering, and the festering again
of ancient feuds, and old, old hurts that will not be let go of. It’s true in Bosnia.
It’s true in the Balkans - what is going on is a result of ethnic pain out of the past.
It’s true in Ireland. It’s not just Catholic/Protestant. It’s deep wounds in the
culture, centuries back, continuing to come between because there is something
primal in us, I am sure, that demands retribution and vengeance and retaliation.
Where retribution and retaliation and vengeance operate, there is no end! It
never ends!
So, I wonder. I ask this question. You think about it with me. Was God with Jesus
on the cross just dying? Was Jesus’ breakthrough the thing he was reaching for,
was that what got him killed? The fact that he undercut the religion tit-for-tat and
the neat bookkeeping of people in mosque and church. Was he crucified because
he tried to say, “Retribution, vengeance, retaliation, tit-for-tat will not work?
There is only one way to break through, through this accursed human plague, and
that is to take it on the chin?” I wonder.
Jurgën Moltman, in his book, The Crucified God, claims that God does not need a
blood sacrifice to forgive us. I think he needs to show us that that won’t work. It is
only love that becomes the transformative catalyst that changes people. It is only
if I can forgive you before you say, “I am sorry.” It is only if I can enwrap you in
my arms while you are still alienated that something happens inside out. I
wonder if God, in Christ, was taking it on the chin? And all the darkness, and all
the atrocity, and all of the horror of the human story crashing in upon God, in
Christ, on the cross, and God absorbing it all, just absorbing it all. Then hearing
Jesus who lived out his faith in concrete action and died saying, “Father, forgive
them.” I suspect if that won’t do the trick nothing will.
And I suspect that Easter is the sign that that love may be crucified, but never
finally defeated, and that finally, either here or there, God won’t quit until we get
the picture.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/06a12ea6a0b0f3e6e9a2db90335d2c6c.mp3
888cc70b03c46bad22818cbeddf5a36e
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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/.
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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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
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
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Event
Lent V
Series
The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God
Scripture Text
Psalm 130:4, Luke 23:34
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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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/.
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KII-01_RA-0-19930328
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1993-03-28
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The God Who Forgives
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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Text
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 28, 1993 entitled "The God Who Forgives", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 130:4, Luke 23:34.
Forgiveness
Nature of God
Transforming Grace
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3956bbade0484bff0099c8c106fe3f23.mp3
3a81f3e74afc2f97995a4635344e45e7
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e4010e64105211275e9974398b85a62e.pdf
ddb217edffee798b7473eecc87c30e09
PDF Text
Text
Prodigal Love
From the series: Images of God in the Stories of Jesus
Text: Luke 15:20
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Pentecost X, August 16, 1992
Transcription of the spoken sermon
But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion, and he
ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:20
It is very important to name things correctly because names give us a
preconception of the reality of something. The parable that we just read has been
popularly known as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” but, actually, that is a
misnomer. That is an incorrect naming.
To call it the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to put the focus on the son. Now there
were two sons. But to name it the Parable of the Prodigal Son is to put the focus
on the more exciting son, the one that would put a little raciness into the
narrative. But it is not a story about the rascal or the rogue. It is a story about the
father. And the father represents God. It is very important for us in this series of
messages, in which we will be looking at the Images of God in the Stories of
Jesus, to get the title straight.
In titling today’s sermon, I’ve saved the word prodigal because I looked it up in
the dictionary and found that it can have a positive as well as a negative meaning.
Prodigal, in the sense of the prodigal son, means wastefulness, spendthrift, a
rascal, using one’s substance on that which is not necessary or important, etc. But
if you keep reading you will find that prodigal can also mean abundance, lavish,
superabundance, profuse. So, in order to name the parable, I’ll save the word
prodigal, but we’ll call it prodigal love. It is important to get that straight because
images of God in the stories Jesus told are metaphors. And it is important to get
the proper focus of the story in order to be sure we catch the metaphor.
A metaphor, you will remember we said last week, is a figure of speech. The word
comes from two Greek words - meta, which means behind or over or across, and
pherein, which means to carry, to bear. And so a metaphor carries us across the
gulf of unknowing in order that we might have some sense of that Mystery that is
beyond us. In order that, in terms of things that are familiar to us, we might have
© Grand Valley State University
�Prodigal Love
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
some sense of the Mystery that is always beyond our comprehension. We can
only talk of God in metaphors. We can only understand God and the deepest
spiritual Mysteries in terms of poetic expression, and so, in this metaphor, this
parable, we have an image of God as Prodigal Love.
Jesus didn’t lecture those who were complaining to him and about him. He didn’t
write a catechism. He didn’t try to get into a rational argument. He told a story.
Jesus always told stories because Jesus knew that was the only way to
communicate the depth of the Mystery to which he was pointing. You can only
speak of God poetically. You can only get the feel and the sense of the reality of
God in an analogy, in a figure of speech, a story, a parable. He told this parable in
order to image God as Prodigal Love, because God is Prodigal Love.
Isn’t that good news? Isn’t that wonderful? Isn’t that the news that has set our
tongues singing and our feet dancing? “Why, of course,” you say. “Why certainly,”
you agree. But wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you sure? Do you really buy
that? Does that really make you feel good, comfortable? Are you at ease with
that? God as Prodigal Love.
I want to tell you, it will never make it in Houston this week. The Republican
Platform Committee would never come out with a platform that had at its heart
the theme that God is Prodigal Love. I’ll tell you, neither Bill Clinton nor George
Bush could capture the White House this fall, campaigning on a plank of God’s
Prodigal Love as the answer to our economic ills. I’ll tell you something more;
there’s not a national church assembly meeting this year that would ever have at
the center of its mission statement, God’s Prodigal Love. I’ll tell you something
more; even in Christ Community we might not rest totally at ease with God’s
Prodigal Love.
I suppose making a provocative statement like that I ought to support it. I could
see you were nodding your head “yes” all too soon and all too easily when I said
it’s good news that God is Prodigal Love. Sure. But why did Jesus tell the story?
Because the scribes and Pharisees were murmuring about the fact that the tax
collectors and the sinners were coming to hear Jesus, and they were put off by the
fact that Jesus was receiving them and inviting them to eat with him, which was
the sign of hospitality and the acceptance of such a person.
Luke sets the story of God’s Prodigal Love in the context of the murmuring of the
scribes and Pharisees. And who were the scribes and the Pharisees? Well, they
don’t get very good press in the Gospel because they are always set over against
Jesus. They are always in the adversarial position, but, as a matter of fact, in all
honesty, they were the best people in town. They were the serious people. They
were the religious people. They were the pillars of society. They were decent.
They were honest. They were hard working. With dogged determination and
dedication they kept life going and institutions intact. They were faithful. They
were devout. They were seriously good people. They were like the people who are
© Grand Valley State University
�Prodigal Love
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
going to fill Convention Hall in Houston this week. I mean, that describes
Republicans, doesn’t it?
They murmured, “Who does he think he is? Look with whom he is associating.”
Murmur. Does anybody murmur better than good religious people? We the
upright and the uptight, don’t we murmur? Aren’t we always grumbling in our
beard about how bad the world is and how everything is going to pot, and about
our irresponsible neighbor?
Folks, the scribes and the Pharisees were the kind of people who come to worship
at 10:00 on Sunday morning. Good people. But they murmured. They were
offended at Jesus living and acting out what he believed to be true and that is that
God is Prodigal Love. Jesus acted out what he believed God to be. Jesus was
transparent. He was a picture. He was a metaphor of God. Seeing into the face of
Jesus, we see into the heart of God. And what the good folk saw… They. Did. Not.
Like.
You want another piece of evidence? This is still in Luke’s Gospel. If you go to the
fourth chapter where Jesus begins his ministry, he came to his hometown crowd,
his local congregation where you would have thought they would have given him
a break. Remember? He preached from the Prophet Isaiah. He proclaimed a
message of liberation - sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, the lame to
walk, the prisoners freed. And his own people were so angry they wanted to throw
him over the cliff. They wanted to kill him. And it was his consistent living out of
that inaugural text that earned him the wrath of the best people in town.
You want one more piece of evidence? How does the story of the Prodigal end?
The story ends, not with the salty tears of the father over the son who came home,
but with the faithful, obedient, hard working, dedicated, committed son who was
always every day out in the back 40 plowing and hoeing and weeding. He comes
home one night; he’s tired; he is satisfied, feeling that he has worked hard and
put in another good day’s work. But, of course, his satisfaction is really riddled
with resentment, because nobody really likes to be that good and that faithful all
of the time. I mean if you are that good and that faithful all of the time, then you
in all probability have a bit of resentment suppressed somewhere. It will
inevitably pop up now and again. He said, “What’s going on?” The servant says,
“Your brother’s home.” Dark clouds. The father comes out and says, “Your
brother’s home, let’s have a party.”
“No way! That no good joust-about, who’s wasted all your living?” he says to his
father. Then he colored the story a little bit. He didn’t know for sure what the
younger son had been doing, but he knew what he would have done, if he were
out there; that’s part of his resentment. He said, “He was wasting your living on
harlots and all that other kind of stuff, and you kill a fatted calf for him? I have
slaved for you all these years and you never gave me a party.” Jesus is
brandishing a vivid point to those to whom he told the story in the first place, to
the murmurers.
© Grand Valley State University
�Prodigal Love
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
Now to come back to the question I started with. Does it really sit easy with you
that God is a God of Prodigal Love? Just think about the story for a minute. The
younger son gets what he can get and scrams. Breaks his father’s heart. Breaks all
codes of decency and honor. Enters into a self-destructive pattern of life. Finds
himself in a real pinch, scratches his head and realizes the servants in his father’s
house are better off than he. He devises a plan. “I will arise and go to my father.”
He rehearses this speech: “Father, I am not worthy to be your son. I have sinned
against heaven and against you.” I think he meant it. I think he had attained a
certain amount of proper humility. But I don’t think he was changed yet. This is
still just a strategy. He was going to come home. He was going to give his
prepared speech. He was going to try to be one of the hired servants because he
still is operating under the old principle. He thinks, “You know if the old man will
give me a second chance, and I work hard enough, and I am dedicated long
enough, if I follow my elder brother around long enough, maybe I can prove that
there is really some good stuff in me after all. Maybe if he’ll give me a second
chance I can still prove myself.”
So he comes home and the old man is on the rooftop. He’s been up there every
day since the kid left. He’s been straining his eyes looking down the road, hardly
seeing because he is blinded by the tears he’s been shedding. And then he sees his
son and almost leaps off the roof of his house. He gathers his garments around
him in a way that would be considered shameful in that culture and in that day,
and he begins to run down the street as no male over 30 years of age would run.
He throws off proper decorum and proper behavior and doesn’t care who is
watching, who is witnessing this kind of shocking display of emotion. He races,
the text says, he races to his son and his son gets the first line of his prepared
speech out, only to be smothered by the arms of the father, whose salty tears flow
over the son as he kisses him effusively in a prodigal manner and restores him to
sonship.
That is a moving story isn’t it? It is a wonderful story. The trouble is we haven’t
dared preach it that way in church, we haven’t let the story just be. We haven’t
dared to just tell that story and say, “God is like that.” We’ve always hedged a bit.
I am going to quote from a sermon given by a preacher, recognized as
outstanding in our tradition. It is from a sermon on this parable:
“These parables teach and depict in a pictorial form the basic message of
the Bible that God is a God of grace.” (Good so far.) “God forgives sinners
by grace. That is, he forgives sins freely and not by merit on the part of the
person who has sinned. The word grace means unmerited favor. This, of
course, does not mean that God overlooks sin or that he winks at it, or that
he excuses it. God forbid. He is able (listen to me now) to forgive us freely
because full atonement has been made for our sin in the death of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, on the Cross of Calvary. (I’ll repeat that.) He is able
to forgive us freely because full atonement has been made for our sin in
© Grand Valley State University
�Prodigal Love
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on the Cross of Calvary.” [Words
in parenthesis spoken by Richard A. Rhem.]
This is the way you’ve had the Gospel preached to you almost all your life. The
cross of Calvary, the death of the Son of God, the Atonement. Did you really find
that in the story? Where did that come from?
Now this is a very fine preacher, and this very fine preacher knows full well that
when one preaches one is supposed to preach the text. But he dragged the word
about Calvary into this story didn’t he? It’s not in there. Jesus told a story about a
son who went bad and came home and got loved by his father. He didn’t say
anything about parole, or probation, or recrimination, or condemnation, or
somebody else taking the rap for all of the grief the father had experienced.
Where did it come from?
It came from Paul, of course: Paul’s reflection, after the fact, a reflection back on
the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. All of Paul is theological reflection.
The problem in the Church is that we have never let the images of God in the
stories of Jesus be heard in all of their potency, in all of their power. We have not
trusted these stories. We have wanted to warn folks like you that what Jesus said
in a case like this is not all that there is to say. This preacher was following a
principle of interpretation that is taught in our seminaries, and that is that every
text of scripture has to be interpreted in light of every other text of scripture. So
you preached the text, but always in the context of the whole.
Yesterday Nancy was doing some baking. Here she was up to her elbows in flour had the rolling pin out. She starts from scratch, that girl! I mean she’s good! She’s
rolling out this crust until it is beautiful and smooth. There’s not a foreign particle
anywhere, nor any kind of little lump. It is absolutely flat, uniform,
homogeneous. You could take a hunk of that crust any place and you would have
the real ticket. That’s what we have done with the Bible in all of its rich diversity,
in all of the thousands of years over which it came to expression, and all of the
different contexts into which it is spoken. We have taken a rolling pin and we’ve
rolled it and rolled it.
It reminds me of a soup I used to like when I was trying to lose weight. (I’ve, of
course, gotten that weight down now where it is just right!) This was a soup that
had all kinds of vegetables and when it was all done you couldn’t identify
anything in that bland mush. You threw them into the blender and blended that
thing until - well, there were carrots and onions, and celery and tomatoes, and
potatoes and all of that. Sometimes I like to take a big bite out of a carrot and
taste a carrot, or an onion, or a tomato or a potato. But if you get it all blended
together, you can dish it out and it’s got a little bit of everything in it and it
doesn’t taste like anything distinctive! And it doesn’t have any pungency or any
punch.
© Grand Valley State University
�Prodigal Love
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
And so in the Church we have hedged on the stories of Jesus just so you folks
didn’t get the wrong impression. We are afraid you might think, as the preacher
said, “God might wink at sin.” Or that God could just forgive us if God willed to
forgive us. So we have, thank God, Paul who puts the damper on Jesus.
But now just think with me for a minute. You are parents, grandparents, aunts or
uncles. Is there a child you love? Can you imagine a child you love with all your
heart and soul, that child breaking your heart? A son or daughter going wrong?
Can you imagine every time the telephone rang your heart skipping a beat
because you hoped it was he or she? Can you imagine going to the mailbox every
day just in case there might be some communication from that son or daughter?
Can you imagine a son or daughter whom you loved, seeing, clear as a bell, that
they were on the road to destruction and not being able to do a thing about that?
Loving them. Caring. Longing. Yearning. Weeping. And one day there is a rap on
the door and there they are. What would you do? What would you do?
Jesus said, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more your heavenly father.” I think Jesus would say, “Don’t drag Paul into
this story. I am trying to image for you God, who in Prodigal Love simply forgives
freely.” It is an image of God who has to let the kid go because he will only love,
and has no other plan. God who stands helpless even in the face of his “steadyEddie” elder son who complains, saying to that elder son, “All I have is yours. You
are home. Come in to the party,” but can’t drag him by the hair. Jesus images God
as Prodigal Love who loves and loves until one finally gets close enough to him to
be embraced and to experience and to be lost in the abyss of that love.
Jesus paid it all - I feel a little more comfortable - that’s the kind of world I can
operate in. Then, Dad, take me back and let me prove myself. That feels better.
But it’s not the Gospel, and it’s not the way God does it. The old Dutch painter,
Rembrandt, captured the story and the poignancy of the parable in a painting
that Peter owns, that he has shown me. It is the parable of the Prodigal Son,
which we have renamed now the Prodigal Lover. Peter and I are going to show
you the painting. I’ll be God. [laughter heard] Well I’ve got this beard. [Peter
responds, “I get the party!”] [Dick embraces Peter and says:] This is the painting.
Do you see the salty tears on the father’s cheeks? All God ever wants to do is
embrace his children and have them home.
You get the picture. Listen to the voice of God. “You are loved. You are home.”
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost X
Series
Images of God in the Stories of Jesus
Scripture Text
Luke 15:20
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-0-19920816
Date
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1992-08-16
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Prodigal Love
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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Sound
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 16, 1992 entitled "Prodigal Love", as part of the series "Images of God in the Stories of Jesus", on the occasion of Pentecost X, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 15:20.
Nature of God
Parable
Transforming Grace
Unconditional Love
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0d887fd798c231b8bd03b9ce0696094d.mp3
3ef966eaef354aa6e5384c74a82e8c2b
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/74ddf4040d65102b3ed2df7a79bf9f7b.pdf
c2a5d28540de685c06d42d80eba10a1c
PDF Text
Text
Surprised by Grace
Text: Lamentations 3:22-26
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
August 2, 1987
Transcription of the spoken sermon
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an
end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness… It is good
that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations
3:22-26
Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord, who rises with healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain.
William Cowper has captured the theme of this message beautifully in these lines.
He lived from 1731 to 1800 and was England's most honored poet between Pope
and Shelley. He was a frail child and very sensitive. His mother died when he was
a child of six and near the end of his life he remarked there had never been a day
when he had not mourned her death. His father sent him to law school, but the
prospect of appearing for his final exam so frightened him that he suffered a
mental breakdown and even attempted suicide. For 18 months he was placed in
an insane asylum. He found a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through
reading Romans. Having recovered, he was befriended by the family of a
clergyman, Morly Urwin, and when Urwin died, John Newton, the converted
slave trader become Anglican pastor and author of "Amazing Grace," invited
Cowper to come to Olney, England, Newton's parish. For the last two decades of
Cowper's life, he was a close personal friend of Newton. With Newton, Cowper
cooperated in producing Olney Hymns, a collection of 349 hymns.
Cowper's own personal experience finds expression not only in the hymn cited
above but, for example, in "O For a Closer Walk With God."
Return, O Holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made thee mourn
And drove thee from my breast.
© Grand Valley State University
�Surprised by Grace
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
And in "God Moves In A Mysterious Way."
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
In a word, the one who trusts in the good and gracious God is not spared the
troubles and anguish common to humankind; the child of God, however, knows
more than the awful darkness; the child of God also knows what it is to be
surprised by grace.
Sometimes a light surprises a Christian while he sings – or prays, or reflects on
the past mercies of God. And the light which scatters the darkness ushers in "a
season of clear shining." The experience is one of sheer grace; it comes in the
wake of an anguish and despair which seemed beyond resolution; it comes when
one has lost all hope and cannot imagine that things will ever come right, that
one's heart will ever be mended, that one will ever again know joy and rejoicing.
Unpredictably, unexpectedly, light returns, the woundedness heals and grace is
experienced. God intervenes; one is assured anew of a mercy that never fails and
a steadfast love that never wavers and a faithfulness that remains rocklike.
So to experience grace is to find life transformed, reality transformed. One moves
from disarray, disorientation to new orientation and all one can do is praise God
out of a heart saturated with gratitude.
In our study of the Psalms we have traced the rhythm of human experience that is
never static but rather dynamic, in motion.
Sometimes life is experienced as harmonious and well-ordered. Meaning is
secure and purpose in life clear. One trusts in the wise and gracious rule of the
Sovereign Creator. But sometimes the roof collapses, the bottom drops out and
order turns to chaos. The dark night of the soul knows only anguish - and as
noted in our study of Psalm 88, the darkness sometimes settles in with no relief,
no resolution.
But, thank God, in our common human experience there more often follows a
scattering of the darkness, a burst of light, the promise of joy and a new
orientation – the surprise of grace.
The Psalms are a mirror of Israel's spiritual experience; they are a portrait of the
way life is for us all. Life is lived not so much in one state or the other, but in the
dynamic movement from orientation through disorientation to new orientation.
© Grand Valley State University
�Surprised by Grace
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
That is the way life is and the Bible is a very honest book and the Old Testament a
very wholesome portrayal of human experience before the face of God.
This message celebrates the surprising grace of God that effects healing and
wholeness, the grace that is not at our disposal, not ours to control or
manipulate, not predictable or expected – the grace which is the intervention of
the faithful God Who comes to us out of the darkness, Who meets us in the
darkness, Who transforms the darkness into light.
Although we have been tracing this pattern in the Psalms, and there are many
examples of the surprise of grace in the Psalms, I have chosen my text from the
Book of Lamentations. The whole book is poetry, five poems, elegies that give
expression to the deep anguish of the people of God over the devastation of
Jerusalem through the destruction ordered by the Babylonian King
Nebuchadnezzar after the seige of 587 was successful and the Holy City was
finally taken. The walls were torn down, the Temple burned, the best of the
citizenry taken away and the city left a smoldering shambles. The situation, the
historical context out of which this grief pours, is given in the book of II Kings
25:8-12:
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year
of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon - Nebuzaradan, captain of the
guard, an official of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned
down the house of Yahweh, and the King's house; and all the houses in
Jerusalem, including every great man's house, he set on fire and burned.
The whole army of the Chaldeans tore down the walls of Jerusalem, all
around... The rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who
had deserted to the King of Babylon, and the rest of the populace,
Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took to Babylon as prisoners. The
captain of the guard left only some of the poorest in the country to tend the
vines and farm the land.
Lamentations.supplies the meaning of this historical data. As one commentator
says,
It is first of all a recital of the horrors and atrocities that came during the
long siege and its aftermath, but beyond the tale of physical suffering it
tells of the spiritual significance of the fall of the city. For the ancient
people chosen by Yahweh it meant the destruction of every cherished
symbol of their election by God. In line after line the poet recalls all the
precious, sacred things which had been lost or shattered: the city itself,
once "The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth;" the city walls
and towers, once the outward sign that "God is in the midst of her," the
King, "The anointed of Yahweh, the breath of our nostrils"; the priests, and
with them all festive and solemn worship; the prophets, and with them all
visions and the living word of God; the land itself, Israel's "inheritance"
from Yahweh, now turned over to strangers; the people - dead, exiled, or
© Grand Valley State University
�Surprised by Grace
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
slaves in their own land. Every sign that had once provided assurance and
confidence in God was gone. (Anchor Bible, Lamentations, p. XV)
To the survivors these poems in Lamentations served as a means by which to
bring to expression an almost inexpressible sorrow. Their grief was deep - beyond
words; yet these words gave vent to the anguish and as we noted last week, when
in the darkness, it is so important to bring to expression the anguish - to bring it
into the presence of God Who is experienced as absent, yet present in the
absence.
So much for the historical context and the deep spiritual malaise the events of
587 created in the experience of Judah. What we are focusing on in this message
is not the darkness which provides the backdrop, but rather the surprise of
grace, the return of hope. From near total despair, the person described by the
poet wins through to confidence that God's mercy is not at an end and that his
steadfast love will not fail nor his faithfulness falter.
In chapter 3, the first 16 verses portray vividly the terrible suffering the person
has experienced; verses 17-20 describe the resulting despair and then, in an
amazing turnabout, verses 21-25 speak of renewed hope that rises from the
remembrance of the mercy of God.
In verses 1-16 the author is saying, "This is what any human being may be called
to endure." Verses 17-21 are a transitional bridge which portray the despair and
despondency which results from the onslaught of suffering. But even in the
darkness of despair, the one who trusts in God will wait.
With verse 22 we have the breakthrough, the surprise of grace. And the surprise
of grace is a renewed sense of the mercy or the steadfast love of the Lord. The
Hebrew word is hesid, "steadfast love" or "loyal love" or "mercy."
The remembrance of the steadfast love of the Lord is the basis for renewed hope.
Hesid describes God's faithful and merciful love which is promised and may thus
be expected even when there is no tangible sign of its presence. Hesid speaks of
more than an emotion; it is the loving and merciful action of God which
transforms reality.
In the darkest hour Israel remembered the steadfast love, the mercy of God. The
reality of the God of covenant grace returned to flood the soul of the sufferer; he
was surprised by grace and found his hope renewed; he found the grace to wait
patiently for the salvation of God. To his surprise, a new and unexpected
possibility shows itself. God's mercy is not at an end; God's compassion will not
fail. He breaks forth in exclamatory praise, "Great is Thy faithfulness." In the
wake of the new realization there is amazement, joy, gratitude and praise.
This is an expression of biblical faith at its heart, at its most profound depths. It
rests on the sure mercy, the steadfast love of the faithful God. It was when the
© Grand Valley State University
�Surprised by Grace
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
grief had been brought to speech in the presence of God, that the writer was no
longer mesmerized by the darkness but once again remembered the true nature
of the Covenant God. Suddenly a light surprised him and that light was a prelude
to a season of clear shining. This mercy of God was not spent, exhausted; rather,
embracing the darkness and permeating the darkness was that mercy which was
new every morning. Now the sense of the faithfulness of God returns and hope
once again floods the soul.
In human experience we find that there are periods of anguish but we find, too,
that there is a grace that comes to us from beyond ourselves, that effects healing
in the midst of brokenness and creates hope in the most desolate human
situations.
The movie, "Choices of the Heart," was rerun on TV last week. It is the story of
Jean Donovan, one of the four women brutally slain in El Salvador a few years
ago. She was narrating her experience showing the terrible poverty, the violence
and fear that stalked the lives of the people. But she pointed to the children in
tattered rags, playing in the dusty rubble of their poor neighborhood and
remarked how amazingly they lived with hope. "They know," she said, "the roses
will bloom again."
It seems that hope thrives best in the darkness awaiting the light. And it is true there is a positive, healing power that gives buoyancy to the human heart even in
the darkness.
I re-read M. Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled, remembering his discussion of
grace which he defines as a powerful force originating outside of human
consciousness which nurtures the spiritual growth of human beings. As a medical
person trained in the natural sciences, he witnesses to a miraculous power which
cannot be located as to origin or source nor explained in any scientific fashion,
but which he has, nonetheless, experienced for himself and as operative in the
patients he has dealt with in his psychiatric practice. He is ready, for himself, to
identify the source of grace as God.
This, of course, is precisely the witness of the Scriptures. It is not simply that
there is a force that is on our side; it is that there is a gracious God Who is for us.
It is not that the darkness is not threatening, that the anguish is not real; it is that
there is One Who invades the darkness and by the transformation of grace
changes the reality of our situation. It is not simply that time heals all wounds; it
is that God graciously heals us and brings us toward wholeness, just when it
seemed all hope was gone.
In the previous message I found the epitome of the experience of Psalm 88 in the
crucifixion of Jesus who cried out, "My God, why...?" and died in darkness, alone.
Within the framework of history there was, neither for the psalmist nor for Jesus,
a resolution. But, we can move beyond history now to the ultimate word, the
event of Easter morning. God raised Jesus from the dead. That is the last word, a
© Grand Valley State University
�Surprised by Grace
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
word far too good to limit to Easter. Each Lord's Day is an Easter celebration, a
celebration of the bedrock of our confidence; our trust is in the God Who
transforms reality, the God Who raises the dead.
Sometimes we marvel at the resiliency, the buoyancy, the toughness of the
human spirit. It is really amazing and awesome. But that is not so much a
characteristic of the human spirit; it is a testimony to the steadfast love of the
Lord Whose compassion never fails, Whose mercy is new every morning, Who is
great in His faithfulness.
Sometimes hope is almost gone. Sometimes despair completely overwhelms.
What then?
Wait.
Why?
Because,
The Lord is good to those who look for Him, to all who seek Him; It is
good to wait in patience and sigh for the deliverance by the Lord.
Again, that Hebrew word, "wait," can also be translated "hope," or "wait with
expectation," because His mercy is not over.
Sometimes a light surprises;
Sometimes we are given "a season of clear shining;"
Sometimes we are surprised by grace because God is good and gracious.
He is our God.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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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
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
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Event
Pentecost IX
Scripture Text
Lamentations 3:22-26
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19870802
Date
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1987-08-02
Title
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Surprised by Grace
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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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
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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 August 2, 1987 entitled "Surprised by Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost IX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Lamentations 3:22-26.
Hope
Psalms
Suffering
Transforming Grace
Trust
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229a873e44188bf9fbea76d02a18574d
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4aa5fe1cae2dc6d1f68967de1953087e.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Peter: Rocky
From the sermon series: No Stained Glass Saints
Text: Matthew 16: 18, 23
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 16, 1986
Transcription of the spoken sermon
... you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. Matthew 16:18
... He... said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you
are not on the side of God, but of men." Matthew 16:23
Peter is either an Apostle made for this series, or this series is made for Peter, I'm
not sure which. But, if the series hadn't come along, it would have had to be
invented in order to do justice to Peter, in order to get Peter before us as a saint
who was not exactly made of stained glass. Peter, the Disciple about whom the
most is spoken in the Gospels, the one who is not only most spoken of, but the
one who speaks the most, the one who speaks over and over again, sometimes
magnificently and sometimes miserably – Peter who had many faults and
failings, but one of which was not that he was "Mr. Cool." Peter was the person
who was pretty open. He had a difficult time disguising what was going on in the
inside of his mind and heart. Peter was a man who spoke before he thought, but
never maliciously, always sincerely, always in exuberance, with enthusiasm. He
had many faults, but one of them was not that he lacked passion. He was in many
ways blundering, but he was in all ways lovable. And his sins, which were many,
were covered, because he loved much. And in the end, the faith that Jesus placed
in him was more than vindicated by this unstable man who became solid as a
rock: Peter, the Apostle.
I was amused this week thinking about Peter. The Christian Church has done a
marvelous job about being contentious about things that don't really matter, and
I was reflecting on the old Protestant and Catholic debate about the role of Peter.
I have stood in St. Peter's in Rome and I have seen etched in marble in large
letters the name of Peter. And then the succeeding names, all of those who have
occupied the chair of Peter in Rome. I know, as good Roman Catholic historians
know today, that there are some gaps in those early centuries. I also know, as the
© Grand Valley State University
�Peter: Rocky
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
best of the Roman historians and theologians know, that to project back from the
twentieth century or the sixteenth century or the thirteenth century the
conception of the papacy, to project it back into the first century and to invest
Peter with it is a fruitless and futile exercise which has little value. And yet, I've
shared with you before that I was impressed and I was moved standing before
that list and seeing the name of Peter and knowing that, even if every name in
those early generations could not be verified as having held the recognized
primacy in the Roman Church, nonetheless, the very fact that I was standing
there in the twentieth century in the greatest basilica in the world was an
indication of the continuity of the Christian tradition that had indeed come down
to us from Jesus Christ, who said to Peter, "Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will
build my church."
I was amused and laughed to myself about how ridiculous we have been over the
centuries in the Church with all of the battles we have fought. As a matter of fact,
it probably would have been to the Protestants' advantage to admit that Peter was
the first Pope because it would have been the best argument in the world against
infallibility, which was not an early Church doctrine, but one that came on only
subsequently in later centuries as a means of buttressing the authority of the
Church.
Peter was the first Pope. At least Peter had the preeminence in the apostolic
band. There's no doubt about that. In every listing of the Disciples, in the
Gospels, they are in different order, with two exceptions. Peter is always named
first; Judas is always named last. Peter did have a kind of investiture by Jesus. I
suppose that it was somewhat because of his natural endowments. He was a
leader but, beyond that, it was because Jesus had tapped him and called him and
claimed him and commissioned him to be at the head of that apostolic band. He
had a kind of preeminence among his peers and his equals in the early band of
disciples. So, Jesus chose a reed in order to make him into a rock.
Peter. Rocky. His way was rocky. He often rocked the boat, and he stumbled a
good many times along the way. His way was rocky, but he became solid as a
rock, I suppose, through the insight of Jesus who named him Rock before he was
solid, who named him in order to enable him to live into his name.
The Quaker Elton Trueblood is responsible for this understanding of Rock, or
Peter, as a nickname. I've shared it with you before, but it's too good not to keep
sharing over the years, and maybe some of you haven't heard it. So, let me tell
you what really happened when Jesus called Peter, Peter. You have to
understand, first of all, that there's no record anywhere of anyone being called
Peter before the time of Jesus. It was not a name. The Rock. Jesus called him
Rock. Now, his name was Simon, and when Jesus really meant business with
him, he addressed him as Simon Bar Jonah. “Bar” meant "son of." Jonah would
be our word for John. Peter's father's name was John, and John named Peter
Simon.
© Grand Valley State University
�Peter: Rocky
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
So, Jesus was really giving to Simon a new name. Not seriously in the sense of
rechristening him, but he was giving him a nickname, a nickname which often
picks out a characteristic of a person, and when a nickname is really expressive of
something that is so intrinsic to that person that you can't think of that person
ever again without the name, then you've done a good job of naming.
Jesus called Simon, who was the son of John, Rock or, as we would say, Rocky.
Now, he was the son of John, but the son of John has come down to us as a last
name - Johnson. Johnson is not really a last name, a label of some sort that
derives from any other place than from the fact that the person so named was a
son of John and with the inversion it became Johnson, and so what Jesus was
saying to Simon was, " From now on you'll be Rocky Johnson." And that's true.
Rocky Johnson. Simon Bar Jonah, Simon Son of John, Rocky Johnson. The
Church is built on Rocky Johnson! And I agree with the Church in Rome. I think
he was the first Pope. The first pope was Rocky Johnson! What a great joke! What
a sense of humor has the Almighty! What a needle to discourage all of the pomp
and seriousness and self-importance of the Church over the centuries when you
think of the fact that Jesus gave preeminence to a person upon whom he said he
would found the Church, a person no less than Rocky Johnson!
Now, when you think of all of the self-importance of all of the church leaders,
popes and priests and bishops and preachers and even an elder and a deacon or
two, when you think of all of our presumption, all of our pompousness, our
pomposity and all of the ceremony – how we take ourselves seriously in this
world as though finally God and Truth and existence itself depended upon the
likes of us serious-minded individuals. Whenever you get to thinking that –
whenever you get to thinking that it all rests on you, whenever you get to thinking
that you carry the whole world on your shoulders, then remember that Jesus said,
"I'll put the whole business on the shoulders of Rocky Johnson!" And think of
Peter and then realize that the first thing that you've got to do is laugh at yourself.
And the second thing is to get on with the job with good courage. Because, if God
could do something with Peter, my, what he could do with you!
Simon Peter. We call him Simon Peter now, but Simon, son of John, Rocky
Johnson, was the one who was spokesman for the apostolic band and who gave
that great confession to the question of Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?", "You
are the Christ, you are the Messiah." The Messiah. We really should translate that
Messiah, not use the Greek word Christ, because what Peter was saying is, "You
are the one toward whom the whole Old Testament points. You are the fulfillment
of the promise to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You are the great David's greater
Son. You are the Anointed One, the one anointed with the spirit, the breath, the
life, the power of God. You are the Son of the living God." And Jesus blessed Peter
for that, and acknowledged that it wasn't something that Peter came to because
he had some great intellect or some great ingenuity, some great intuitive sense,
but it was because Almighty God had made it known to him. And then he went on
to say, "You are Rocky, and on you I will build my Church."
© Grand Valley State University
�Peter: Rocky
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
And we went on and read another paragraph and we found that, as Jesus began
to prepare his disciples for the inevitability of that which lay before him, speaking
about his entry into Jerusalem and his death, Peter said, "Not so, Lord." Peter,
once again, as exuberant in his protest this time as he was enthusiastic about his
confession just a little bit before, said, "It won't happen to you. Lord. It just
couldn't possibly happen to you. Not while I'm here!" The enthusiasm, the lack of
cool, the confidence and overconfidence in his own power and stability – all of
that coming out of Peter, protesting against that which Jesus was saying, refusing
really to hear that difficult word. He says, "It won't happen as long as I'm around,
to which Jesus had to say the most severe word he said to anyone – "Get behind
me, Satan. You're not on God's side, you're on man's side."
And so it was that the first Pope not only was given a great declaration of blessing
by Jesus, but also was given hell by Jesus. That's the kind of saints that make up
the Church of Jesus Christ. Up one minute and down the next. Filled with
inspiration and speaking out of revelation one minute, and the next minute so
filled with their own self-preoccupation and their own designs and destiny that
they can't hear the Lord speak, and therefore go contrary to Him and can actually
be spoken of as being on the side of the Evil One.
Peter, in all of his boasting, was doing it really out of the beautiful quality of his
love. There were other disciples who didn't say anything to what Jesus was
saying. And that's not to their credit. Peter at least responded, but he responded
out of his own limited insight, his own twisted vision of things, this first Pope of
the Christian Church. Jesus had to say to him on another occasion when Peter
said," If it takes going all the way to death, it won't happen to you," Jesus warned
him that before the cock would crow twice, he would deny the Lord three times.
And you know the story: Peter following Jesus after his arrest, after an aborted
attempt to protect Jesus by the drawing of his sword, warming himself by the fire
in the courtyard of the High Priest, denying to chambermaids that he had any
knowledge at all of Jesus. One wonders how all of those things can coexist in the
heart of one man. How one can be so firm and clear in one's declaration of faith
one moment and so miserable in one's denial to the extent that he cursed, saying,
"I don't know the man"?
Was he like Falstaff, only running to protect himself to return and fight another
day? I think that's probably being too kind to Peter. I think that Peter was that
kind of person that is made up of light and shadow, of light and darkness. He had
a light side and a shadow side. He was a mixed bag; he was filled with
equivocation and ambiguity; he had a great love; he had a great devotion; he had
a great loyalty. He was fearful, he was afraid, he was chicken! He was as
inconsistent and unstable and unreliable and unpredictable as I am! And all four
of the Gospels record that miserable denial. One of them, only Luke, tells us that
when Peter denied the third time and the cocks marked the rising of the sun,
Jesus looked at Peter. They all tell us that Peter went out and wept bitterly.
© Grand Valley State University
�Peter: Rocky
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Have you ever had to look into the eyes of Jesus and turn and weep bitterly? It's
not a fun experience, because in that moment one knows that one has not only
denied one's Lord, one has denied the truth, one has denied oneself, one has
defeated the best that is in one, and one's hopes and ideals and dreams and
aspirations come crashing down in a moment, and all one can do at such a
moment is to weep bitterly.
It is interesting that in Mark's account of the Resurrection, Jesus encounters the
women and says, "Go and tell my brethren, and Peter." Isn't that just like Jesus?
Go and tell my brethren, and Peter. Be sure you tell Peter. Tell the rest, but just in
case you might think that Peter is now an exception, set aside to be isolated, to be
judged and condemned, let me tell you, you be sure and tell Peter. And then, of
course, there's the scene after Easter when the disciples are out fishing. Peter was
still eating his heart out. In the 21st chapter of John where it begins, Peter says,
"I'm going to go fishing." When you're really hurting, when you're really
distraught and confused, the best thing to do is to do the thing you do best, to go
back to the old, familiar routine. Peter said, "I'm going to go fishing." And Jesus
came and made a charcoal fire on the beach and prepared breakfast. And in that
encounter post-Easter, he caught Peter's eye and he said, "Do you love me?" Peter
said, "Yes, I love you." And he said, "Feed my sheep." And he said a second time,
"Peter, do you love me," and Peter said, "Yes, I love you." He said, "Feed my
lambs." And he said to him a third time, "Peter, do you love me," and Peter was
distressed because he said to him a third time and he said, "Lord, you know all
things. You know that I love you." He said, "Feed my sheep." (I just want you to
know that we're even now. Three times you denied me, three times I make you
tell me what I know is true. You love me.)
Unpredictable, unstable, unreliable, irresponsible, compulsive, wonderful,
enthusiastic, passionate, blundering idiot, Peter, first Pope, Rocky Johnson.
Judas denied his Lord and he went out and he hanged himself. Have you ever
thought of hanging yourself? If you have ever gone out and wept bitterly, then
you have had the thought in your mind and in your heart that it would be easier
to end it all? A judge did that in Detroit this week. Many years of respect,
reputation, no doubt quality service, then exposed and he shot himself. So did
Judas. Suicide is probably the ultimate action of wounded pride. When I finally
come full turn and see who I really am, that's difficult enough to take. But, when
everybody else knows it too, it's almost easier just to be done with it all.
Judas hanged himself after betraying his Lord. Peter wept. He had all of the same
inclinations and all of the same feeling and all of the same self-accusation and all
of the same pain, but he caught Jesus' eye, and instead of killing himself, instead
of giving up on himself, instead of selling short the grace of God, he came back
once more. Rocky Johnson.
Alexander White, the great Scottish preacher with fruitful imagination, has us
imagine Peter climbing into the pulpit to preach the funeral sermon of Judas.
© Grand Valley State University
�Peter: Rocky
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
What do you think might have been his text? What do you think might have been
his plea, his cry to those who gathered in the wake of Judas? Might he not have
said to that gathered audience, "Judas quit too soon. He gave up on God and so
he gave up on himself. But don't ever give up on God, for His grace is greater than
all our sins. No matter how deep you have fallen, how badly you have failed, how
dark the night, how deep the pain – grace greater than all our sins can transform
us and make us new again."
Rocky Johnson. Let him be a sign to us that the Church is founded on the
possibility of a second chance, of a new lease on life, of beginning all over again!
And then, with Rocky Johnson, maybe we, too, will come to the point where
someone will say, "Speak no more in his name," and we'll be able to say with calm
confidence and deep assurance, "You'll have to judge for yourself whether it is
right to obey God or man. But, as for me, I cannot but speak the things that I have
seen and heard. Jesus Christ whom you crucified, God raised up. And he's made
me new. Blessed be His holy name." Amen and amen.
© 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
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<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 XXVI
Series
No Stained Glass Saints
Scripture Text
Matthew 16:18, 23
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-0-19861116
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1986-11-16
Title
A name given to the resource
Peter: Rocky
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 November 16, 1986 entitled "Peter: Rocky", as part of the series "No Stained Glass Saints", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 16:18, 23.
Apostle Peter
Church
Followers of Jesus
Transforming Grace